On Monday, Nov. 23, the New Shepard rocket of Blue Origin was launched in the company's West Texas site and landed back on Earth 11 minutes after - in one piece.
The rocket landed just four and half feet from where it was launched. Amid the crosswinds estimated to be about 120 miles per hour, the rocket is now safely kept. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, said that they cannot wait to fuel and fly it up again.
Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000. Unlike its competitor Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) by Elon Musk, the company is considered to be the "silent operator" in the space industry as majority of its works are not exposed to the public and the company appears to accomplish very little compared to SpaceX.
With the successful launch and landing of New Shepard, Blue Origin has not only grabbed the attention of space enthusiasts and the entire world, it has also finally made a mark in the space industry.
Clearly, the flawless mission speaks a lot about the future of space exploration and research.
Room for Experiments
One of the implications of Blue Origin's success is the high possibility of conducting more space experiments through its successful spacecraft. The company is now looking at selling space on the rockets during test flights to accommodate experiments and researches.
"There's no reason not to do that," said Bezos.
By 2016, such plan may possibly see the light. With this, space geeks and scholars may have the chance to fly their experiments in space and climb up a notch in their individual quests.
Space Tourism
A field trip to space may seem impossible at the moment but it will not be long until this can finally, actually happen.
Blue Origin is dropping signs of pushing space tourism to reality and although selling of tickets and flight costs have not yet been established, it is said to be one of the company's aims.
If the plan will push through, Blue Origin will be flying people at the edge of space and enable them to "hang out" without weight for a couple of minutes.
Reduced Costs
Reusable rockets such as those being developed by Blue Origin is believed to significantly reduce the costs of flying to space.
At the moment, majority of rockets fly a single journey and come crashing to Earth after exhausting all fuel, making a single trip to space very expensive.
"The ultimate vision should be aircraft-like operations," said Bezos.
