Bezos-owned Blue Origin successfully launches New Shepard spacecraft

Austin (Texas), Dec 12 (IANS) In a step closer to soon take human tourists into space, Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin has successfully launched a reusable New Shepard spacecraft on a sub-orbital test flight, a record sixth flight of the re-used booster.

On board the spacecraft that was launched on Wednesday from Blue Origin's west Texas flight facility after a delay of one day, was a collection of science experiments from NASA, universities and companies.

"This mission was another step towards verifying New Shepard for human spaceflight as we continue to mature the safety and reliability of the vehicle," Blue Origin said in a statement.

This was the sixth flight for New Shepard vehicle. Blue Origin has so far reused two boosters five times each consecutively, so "today marks a record with this booster completing its 6th flight to space and back".

This particular rocket has been an operational payload vehicle for several flights, meaning there are no more updates to the system.

"This was also the 9th commercial payload mission for New Shepard, and we are proud to be have flown our 100th customer on board," said Blue Origin.

New Shepard is a reusable vertical takeoff, vertical landing space vehicle, consisting of a pressurized capsule atop a booster.

New Shepard space capsule is designed to fly commercial payloads and up to six passengers on suborbital space flights for science and tourism. The capsule features giant windows to give future passengers a stunning view of their launch into space.