West Texas Launch Of Blue Origin 'New Shepard' Rocket A Success

WEST TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its new New Shepard space flight vehicle into the skies above west Texas on Jan. 14, 2021.

The event took about 10 minutes from launch to eventual soft landing of both capsule and rocket back on earth.

For the mission, the crew capsule was outfitted with upgrades for the astronaut experience. Upgrades include improvements to environmental features such as acoustics and temperature regulation inside the capsule, crew display panels, and speakers with a microphone and push-to-talk button at each seat.

The mission also tested a number of astronaut communication and safety alert systems.

The capsule was outfitted with six seats, including one occupied by Mannequin Skywalker. The test-dummy-turned-astronaut tucked a few postcards picked from the 50,000 sent from students around the globe in his pockets.

It was the third batch of Club for the Future postcards flown to space.

To participate in the postcard program, click here.

Thursday's successful launch brings Blue Origin one step closer to launching humans to space. Their ultimate mission is using the reusable suborbital launch vehicle to take cosmos curious 'space tourists,' (six per flight), to beyond the Kármán line—the internationally recognized boundary of space.

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In:
• Amazon
• Jeff Bezos
• Blue Origin