Blue Origin successfully tests New Shepard passenger rocket with Luke Skywalker on board (video)

Space company Blue Origin, founderJeff Bezos' Amazon has launched another modification of the spacecraft as part of the New Shepard mission, designed to begin regular tourist flights into outer space. The next NS-15 mission was successful, without serious technical failures. The launch was carried out from a cosmodrome in the west of Texas, located near the city of Van Horn.

The reusable rocket New Shepard has already been tested inthe fifteenth time, while the new passenger capsule only passed the second test. Before the launch, Blue Origin employees passed into the capsule, who conducted a full pre-flight preparation of the ship. Upon completion of testing on-board systems, people left the capsule, leaving in it a dummy Luke Skywalker and 25 thousand leaflets from the public organization Club for the Future.

New Shepard reusable rocket launchedpassenger capsule to an altitude of about 100 km, then separated from it and 7 minutes after the start, successfully landed on a concrete platform several miles from the launch point, using only one BE-3 engine.

Luke Skywalker capsule climbed to the top106 km and began a programmed descent, which was successfully completed using a system of three parachutes. The flight of the capsule lasted a little over 10 minutes.

The new Blue Origin passenger module featuressix seats. The flight is controlled from the command center located on the ground. Only 26 people are involved in the launch. According to a company representative, in the near future, commercial use of the New Shepard rocket will begin with tourists accommodated in a tested capsule.