Blue Origin Gets Closer To Space Tourism With 12Th New Shepard Launch

In a step closer to soon take human tourists into space, Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin has successfully launched a reusable New Shepard spacecraft on a sub-orbital test flight, a record sixth flight of the re-used booster engine. Aboard the spacecraft that was launched on Wednesday from Blue Origin’s West Texas flight facility after a delay of one day, was a collection of science experiments from NASA, universities, and companies.

Today’s #NS12 mission was a complete success. We moved closer towards verifying #NewShepard for human flight. This was the 6th flight for this booster (a record), and the 100th commercial payload customer was on board with thousands of @ClubForFuture postcards #LaunchLandRepeat pic.twitter.com/4Jn8Mn1aue

This particular rocket has been an operational payload vehicle for several flights, meaning there are no more updates to the system. “This was also the 9th commercial payload mission for New Shepard, and we are proud to be have flown our 100th customer on board”, said Blue Origin.