Jeff Bezos Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket flies a risky space mission.
Bezos will be accompanied by Mark Bezos, Wally Funk, and Oliver Daemen for the historic launch towards space on Tuesday, July 20.
If there ever is a slim chance of the rocket failing, an emergency escape system has been created to place the passengers back down to safety.
New Shepard Escape System
Following the footsteps of previous space flights, there are always escape systems to ensure the passengers would have the option for safety should the rocket fail. The New Shepard uses a capsule that can carry the four passengers, and is automatically programmed to detach itself if anything goes awry.
Gary Lai, senior director of New Shepard's design, said in a previous video regarding safety and protocol that the capsule is purposefully designed to "get the astronauts away, and get them to safety."
Blue Origin has so far tested the emergency capsule only three times before the inevitable launch date.
However, the odds of failure are slim as there is only a one percent fatality rate for space flights that have occurred for the US, at least.
Read More : Jeff Bezos' First Blue Origin $28 Million Paying Passenger Replaced By An 18-Year-Old Boy?
Three Tests of The Supposed Emergency Capsule
The company has thoroughly tested its emergency capsule for all scenarios.
As mentioned earlier, Blue Origin's emergency capsule was only tested three times. First was way back in 2012, as it was tested on accidents occurring in the launchpad.
The next test came much later in 2016, as it was tested at a higher altitude. The capsule was able to detach itself away during mid-flight on board a rocket during "its most stressing condition," as Lai said via Business Insider.
The final test before the July launch came in 2018, but this time, it was tested up in space.
The company's escape system detached itself from the New Shepard rocket and fired its boosters to push itself back down to Earth's atmosphere. Parachutes were deployed, and it was a safe landing for all.
Blue Origins Flight is a Go
"The capsule is the most highly redundant and safe spaceflight system, we think, that has ever been designed or flown," Lai further said.
"If a system ails, you have a backup system. And, in most cases, you have a backup to the backup system."
Now, presumably, if something does not happen according to plan, how will it go?
Together with his crew, one of the world's richest man will lift off from Blue Origin's Texas launchpad at 9 AM EST on Tuesday, July 20. The New Shepard rocket will roar into the sky, defying gravity while pinning the passengers to their seats before the capsule is released into space.
The space capsule will then proceed to arc just past the edge of space run by fully automated functions.
For three minutes, Bezos and his fellow passengers will be able to experience weightlessness and will be able to float freely within the cabin.
Gravity will eventually pull them back down into Earth's atmosphere, and the capsule will then be releasing parachutes that will drive them all towards the relative safety of the Texas desert.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Alec G.
