The spaceflight company Blue Origin has successfully tested its rocket escape system. On October 5, in West Texas, the Blue Origin launched New Shepard, a two-part space capsule that had a rocket. When tested, the escape motor blasted away from the booster and the capsule landed smoothly back to the launchpad.
The spaceflight company Blue Origin owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, has just recently successfully tested its rocket escape system.
The New Shepard Introduced by Blue Origins
The in-flight escape test was done using the reusable rocket-and-capsule space capsule New Shepard. The New Shepard is named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. The purpose of the space capsule is to deliver people and scientific instruments to and from suborbital space.
The purpose of the test was to see of its rocket escape system worked. Their goal is that when there is a problem with the ship in the middle of the launch sequence, the booster will separate from the capsule with the crew in it and land it safely back on Earth.
The New Shepard was launched on October 5 in a desert in West Texas and about 45 seconds into the flight, the capsule fired its escape motor for 2 seconds blasting itself away from the booster. The capsule made the landing shortly after the launch and the rocket did its own touchdown on the launch pad a few minutes later. There was, of course, no crew inside the capsule during the test for safety reasons.
The Reaction on the Blue Origins Rocket Test
The result of the rocket escape system test was wholly unexpected. Not just for anyone witnessing but for the owner himself. Bezos had expected it to fail, writing that the "thrust from the escape motor would likely knock the booster off-kilter, causing it to crash and die in a massive fireball".
Even the announcer expressed surprise at the end of the test. The test was conducted two times and was successful each time.
In connection to the success of the New Shepard, Blue Origin has unveiled its new spacecraft, the New Glenn, a huge orbital vehicle that they plan on flying at the end of 2019.
