spacetoday.net: Blue Origin resumes test flights of New Shepard suborbital vehicle

Blue Origin resumes test flights of New Shepard suborbital vehicle

Posted: Sat, Dec 16, 2017, 11:08 AM ET (1608 GMT)
New Shepard landing on Mission 7, Dec. 2017 (Blue Origin)

Blue Origin launched its New Shepard suborbital vehicle Tuesday, the first test flight in more than a year. The vehicle lifted off from the company's West Texas test site at 11:59 am EST, with the propulsion module making a powered landing and the crew capsule parachuting back to Earth, as planned. The company called the flight "a tremendous success" that tested both a new propulsion module and a "Crew Capsule 2.0" outfitted with large windows and carrying a payload of experiments. The company did not confirm the launch took place until about 11 hours after the flight.