Rockets have always been expendable. Not anymore. Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket.
This flight validates our vehicle architecture and design. Our unique ring fin shifted the center of pressure aft to help control reentry and descent; eight large drag brakes deployed and reduced the vehicle’s terminal speed to 387 mph; hydraulically actuated fins steered the vehicle through 119-mph high-altitude crosswinds to a location precisely aligned with and 5,000 feet above the landing pad; then the highly-throttleable BE-3 engine re-ignited to slow the booster as the landing gear deployed and the vehicle descended the last 100 feet at 4.4 mph to touchdown on the pad.
The video really is something. New Shepard launches, flies to the edge of the atmosphere, and after jettisoning its crew capsule, enter a free fall back to Earth to be slowed before landing by the same motor used at liftoff.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been attempting to land its Falcon 9 rocket, but has yet to do it successfully. While SpaceX is ahead of Blue Origin in several key areas, yesterday’s landing a big win for Bezos’ company.
Both companies are working with NASA on its Commercial Crew program, which will have private companies flying astronauts to and from the International Space Station while the agency focuses on its Journey to Mars program.