Spacewatch: one step on for space tourism as Bezos rocket lands

Amazon CEO retrieves New Shepard rocket and capsule after suborbital flight piloting way to paying passengers

Blue Origin, the aerospace company owned by Jeff Bezos, Amazon's chief executive, has completed the eighth test flight of its New Shepard reusable rocket and unmanned crew capsule, blasting off from West Texas on 29 April.

After a 10-minute flight, during which the hydrogen-fuelled vehicle reached a velocity of almost 2,200 miles an hour and altitude of 66 miles, the rocket made a controlled touch down on Earth and the ejected crew capsule parachuted back down too.