Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, says it’ll push its New Shepard suborbital spaceship “to its limits” during its ninth flight test. The test is set to take place as early as 8 a.m. PT Wednesday.
In a tweet, the company said it would conduct a high-altitude escape motor test to check the procedure for an emergency late in the flight sequence. A follow-up tweet said Blue Origin’s website would offer live video and commentary from its West Texas test facility, starting 20 minutes before launch. So far, flight tests have been conducted autonomously, without a crew. But the Kent, Wash.-based company says it’s aiming to start sending people on quick trips to the edge of space by the end of the year.
For the third time, a test dummy nicknamed Mannequin Skywalker will be sitting in one of the crew capsule’s passenger seats, collecting data about the quality of the ride. There’ll also be a variety of scientific payloads in the capsule, designed to take advantage of the few minutes of weightlessness experienced at the top of the up-and-down trajectory.
https://www.geekwire.com/2018/blue-origin-gets-set-high-altitude-escape-test-new-shepard-suborbital-spaceship/
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