spacetoday.net: Blue Origin reveals details about vehicle test

Posted: Thu, Jan 4, 2007, 6:56 AM ET (1156 GMT)
Blue Origin Goddard vehicle before first flight (Blue Origin)

Blue Origin, the secretive launch vehicle startup established by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, posted information on its web site this week about its first flight test and development plans. In the most detailed release of information by the company to date, the company provided photos and videos of the November 13th flight of Goddard, the first prototype in its New Shepard program to develop a vertical takeoff, vertical landing suborbital RLV. Goddard flew to an altitude of over 85 meters during the 30-second flight that day at the company's spaceport in West Texas. In a letter on the web site, Bezos said that Blue Origin is taking a methodical, incremental approach to flight testing and development. The company did not release information about a December test flight that apparently was aborted, nor a schedule of future test flights.