New Shepard flies again, bringing suborbital space tourism closer

Enlarge / Blue Origin's New Shepard booster lands after the system's eighth flight. (credit: Blue Origin webcast)

Blue Origin flew its New Shepard system for the eighth time on Sunday, launching from West Texas at about noon local time. During the 10-minute flight, the capsule reached a record height of 107 kilometers, and both the booster and capsule landed safely.

Although it has yet to make a formal announcement, the company seems to be getting closer to flying people on the suborbital tourism launch system-and perhaps beginning ticket sales.

Not only was this the second flight of a new version of the capsule with large windows, but the webcast's host, Ariane Cornell, repeatedly discussed the customer experience. Cornell, who oversees business development for Blue Origin, spoke about how customers will fly into West Texas on a Friday (complete with panoramic views of the region), spend a day of "fun" flight training on Saturday, and then launch into space itself on Sunday.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments