Despite expectations of fiery explosions, Blue Origin successfully landed its New Shepard rocket after launching the vehicle for the fifth time today. The landing was a delightful surprise for the company, since it fully expected that rocket to either break up or slam into the floor of the Texas desert.
That’s because the purpose of today’s flight was to test out the New Shepard’s escape system. It’s a feature that will save future passengers on board the vehicle, in case the rocket suffers a major failure during flight.
In short, the crew capsule escape system uses a motor on the underside of the capsule to pull it away from the booster. That act was thought to damage the booster, or knock it off trajectory enough to make a landing impossible.
Turns out Jeff Bezos’ team underestimated their hardware. While SpaceX may make more headlines, Blue Origin is coming right along in their quest for reusable boosters.
You can watch the whole thing on YouTube: