Off the wire
• Hungarian government thwarts cyberattacks from foreign servers  • UN chief "deeply disturbed" by ceasefire violations in Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone  • 18 Armenian soldiers killed in clashes between Armenian, Azerbaijani troops  • SA Presidency rejects allegation about Zuma carrying billions of rand to Gupta family  • Suspected fragments of MH 370 found on island near Mauritius  • Women activists barred from entering temple in India  • ECA report urges fact-based, objective means to measure corruption in Africa  • Leading spring fair in S. Germany to attract over 80,000 visitors  • African experts call for sound policies to address challenges, secure benefits of migration  • Spotlight: Xi's visit highlights China's commitment to expanding cooperation, safeguarding nuclear security  
You are here: 　 Home

Bezos's Blue Origin launches, lands same rocket for 3rd time

Xinhua, April 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. space firm Blue Origin on Saturday launched its suborbital rocket New Shepard and then successfully landed it vertically for a third time, the company's billionaire founder Jeff Bezos said.

Bezos tweeted that the New Shepard vehicle, powered by a single American-made BE-3 engine, climbed to an unknown altitude and then successfully landed back at company's launch site in western Texas Saturday morning.

"Flawless BE-3 restart and perfect booster landing," he said. "Same Vehicle. Third time."

The very same rocket has flown just above the 100-kilometer altitude, which was considered the boundary of space, and then successfully landed back twice before, in November and this January.

Unlike previous test flights, Bezos said the company was "pushing the envelope" this time by restarting BE-3 closer to the landing pad at 3,600 feet (1.1 kilometers) from the ground.

If the engine does not restart and work properly, the rocket would impact the ground within six seconds, he added.

Meanwhile, the company tested a new, more efficient radar cross section algorithm on the crew capsule, which separated from the rocket when reaching a certain speed and landed via parachutes.

Blue Origin's rival space firm, Spacex, completed a similar return rocket landing test in December but the California-based company landed its rocket on ground from low Earth orbit, which was thought to be more difficult technically. Enditem