Jeff Bezos' space tourism venture Blue Origin conducted a successful test flight of its latest rocket in West Texas this week. The rocket, called the New Shepard, reached the edge of the planet's atmosphere.
The test flight was the first conducted by the company in nearly a year. New Shepard was unmanned. So far, it has carried experiments and test dummies only.
Blue Origin has yet to start selling ticket pre-orders for its flights. It hasn't announced pricing. New Shepard is designed to give customers a short ride at the edge of space before returning to Earth. Customers can experience a few minutes of weightlessness and spectacular views.
Chief executive Bob Smith said the company is "very close" to conducting manned tests. Onboard this week's flight were experiments provided by NASA. These included sensors and other devices that collected data for engineers working on lunar landing vehicle designs.
Apart from New Shepard, Blue Origin is also developing a much larger vehicle called New Glenn. The rocket is meant to deliver cargo and satellites into orbit, a task that is much more challenging when compared with the New Shepard's suborbital trips.
Compared with Elon Musk's SpaceX, Blue Origin has been taking its time in the manufacturing and development of its space vehicles. SpaceX currently dominates the industry - mainly owing to its fast development. Blue Origin, which was founded in 2000, has yet to put a rocket in orbit.
Blue Origin has embraced its slow pace, even choosing to have a tortoise as its mascot. The company previously said it was committed to going as slow as needed to ensure it didn't cut corners.
