Jeff Bezos' privately-funded spaceflight company Blue Origin conducted an unmanned test of their prototype reusable rocket Saturday, sending it into space and landing it safely back on Earth, marking the third successful test flight of the company's reusable rocket in less than five months.
The rocket made its way into suborbital space from Blue Origin's West Texas test center, eventually separating in space, sending its capsule down in a parachute and the rocket to descend to its landing.
"Flawless BE-3 restart and perfect booster landing," Bezos said, confirming that the capsule parachutes were deployed with no problems. "[Crew capsule] touchdown confirmed."
The test flight marks the third vertical launch and landing by the company's New Shepard rocket and capsule since its first successful landing on Nov. 23 and second on Jan. 22.
The company plans on using the New Shepard rocket and capsule to provide paid trips into space for passengers that want a glimpse of the universe, although Bezos has yet to announce a price range for this unique space tourism plan.
Each rocket and capsule will be able to carry six people into space, although it will not launch high enough to reach orbit. The suborbital capsule ascends over the boundary between Earth and space before landing via parachute, while the booster uses its thrusters to land vertically on the landing pad.
Space tourism aside, Bezos' big plan for the company is to get millions of people into space all at once.
"The vision for Blue [Origin] is pretty simple," he said. "We want to see millions of people living and working in space, and that's going to take a long time. It's a worthwhile goal."
"It'll just be an incredibly fun, inspiring part of humanity's future to go exploring the solar system," he added. "Who wouldn't want to do that? Sign me up."
In order to achieve this goal, Bezos and Blue Origin are attempting to create reusable rockets in order to cut costs and make simultaneous space exploration a reality. Elon Musk and SpaceX are also attempting to move towards reusable rockets in order to move past the current process of throwing away rockets after each use.
