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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Sun Jun 19, 2016, 07:54 PM Jun 2016

Blue Origin Aces 4th Reusable Rocket Launch (and Landing) in Live Webcast

Source: Space.com

Blue Origin Aces 4th Reusable Rocket Launch (and Landing) in Live Webcast

By Tariq Malik, Space.com Managing Editor | June 19, 2016 11:00am ET

Billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched and landed a reusable rocket for the fourth time Sunday (June 19), with the typically secretive private spaceflight company making its first-ever live webcast of a test flight during the successful mission.

Blue Origin's unmanned New Shepard rocket and space capsule launched into the clear West Texas sky at 10:36 a.m. EDT (1436 GMT), carrying its crew capsule into suborbital space before both craft returned to Earth in separate landings.

New Shepard's booster made a pinpoint landing near its launch site 8 minutes after liftoff, with the capsule touching down a minute lander after descending to Earth under two parachutes. Blue Origin's main goal for the flight was to test how the capsule would perform with just two of its three main parachutes deployed.

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During Sunday's launch, New Shepard reached a peak altitude of 331,501 feet (101,041 meters). That's 62.7 miles (101 kilometers), just above the 62-mile boundary between Earth and space. While the capsule only needs one parachute to land safely, it carries three to be safe and Sunday's test monitored how the craft would handle a two-chute landing, according to Blue Origin representatives.

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Read more: http://www.space.com/33214-blue-origin-lands-reusable-rocket-4th-time-webcast.html

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Source: CNN

Blue Origin Successfully Crash Tests Space-Tourism Capsule

June 19, 2016 5:36 PM

By Jackie Wattles

VAN HORN, TEXAS (CNN) — A Blue Origin rocket has now made four trips to space.

The private space company headed by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos successfully landed the same Blue Shepherd rocket again Sunday after an unmanned test flight from its launch site in West Texas.

Blue Origin wants to pioneer space tourism by offering paying customers a ride to what’s known as suborbital space, reaching about 62 miles above Earth’s surface. It plans to make the first trip with passengers in about two years.

The company made another leap toward that goal on Sunday by crash testing the portion of its spacecraft intended to carry people. The capsule landed safely even though one of its three parachutes intentionally malfunctioned upon descent.

Bezos is among several high-profile executives — like Tesla’s Elon Musk and Virgin’s Richard Branson — looking to make space travel cheaper by getting the private sector involved. The ability to land and reuse rockets is a major step toward that goal.

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Read more: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/06/19/blue-origin-successfully-crash-tests-space-tourism-capsule/

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Blue Origin Aces 4th Reusable Rocket Launch (and Landing) in Live Webcast (Original Post) Eugene Jun 2016 OP
NASA always managed to reuse the first stage shuttle rockets Warpy Jun 2016 #1
Nasa didn't really reuse all that much Travis_0004 Jun 2016 #2
Pretty much and don't forget how underfunded they've always been Warpy Jun 2016 #3
The VAB housed the 36 story Saturn V. longship Jun 2016 #4

Warpy

(110,912 posts)
1. NASA always managed to reuse the first stage shuttle rockets
Sun Jun 19, 2016, 08:08 PM
Jun 2016

but found it more cost effective to put pingers on them and just fish them out of the water than try to land them.

I do love the sci-fi rocket landings, though.

 

Travis_0004

(5,417 posts)
2. Nasa didn't really reuse all that much
Sun Jun 19, 2016, 08:50 PM
Jun 2016

First off, the shuttle was built in a time where pulling off a space X style landing was impossible. So I don't put any blame on NASA for dropping the SRB into the sea, it was the best they could do at the time.

Reusing the SRB basically meant stripping it all the way down, and really throwing away most of the parts. It wasn't really a huge money saver, but it was good PR for NASA (also great to research what went wrong on a flight and see what needs to be improved.

The advantage to what space X does is avoidng the salt water and corrosing that goes with it. The hope is that a rocket can be resued within 2 months. That is something that NASA could have never pulled off with the shuttle.

Warpy

(110,912 posts)
3. Pretty much and don't forget how underfunded they've always been
Sun Jun 19, 2016, 09:17 PM
Jun 2016

unless there's some military project they've been tapped to accomplish. A lot of their computers were ancient and so was the infrastructure.

The VAB is damned impressive, though, ever been inside it?

longship

(40,416 posts)
4. The VAB housed the 36 story Saturn V.
Sun Jun 19, 2016, 09:26 PM
Jun 2016

The Shuttle was small in comparison. Still, they had to retool the entire building to accommodate it.


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