Watch Blue Origin launch and land New Shepard rocket on its 11th test flight

This morning, Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company, will send its suborbital rocket as part of its eleventh test flight, as part of the company's ongoing efforts to prepare the vehicle for passengers. There will be no human pilots on this launch, but the vehicle will carry dozens of search payloads to the outer edge of space for NASA and other organizations.

The Blue Origin walk for future space tourists is the New Shepard, a reusable rocket designed to fly more than 100 km from Earth and cross the border with space. At this height, all passengers on board would only suffer a few minutes of weightlessness before returning to the surface of the planet.

To get to this altitude, the rocket took off from the Blue Origin launch pad in West Texas, throwing a crew capsule into the sky. Once the rocket has reached the correct altitude, the capsule separates from the rocket and both parts of the vehicle hover high above the Earth for a few minutes. They then fall back on the planet to rest gently on the ground; the parachutes lower the capsule to the Earth, while the rocket lights its engine to land upright on a landing pad. It is a journey that takes only 11 minutes, but it should be an intense experience for all passengers.

Image: blue origin

Until now, Blue Origin has been very successful with its test flights. The New Shepard has landed nine times out of ten, and the vehicle has proven that it can protect people, even in emergencies. However, there is still no clear timetable for the first flight of the passengers tested, and the company has not yet started selling tickets to customers. The rocket that flies this week is the third edition of the New Shepard vehicle and the company has built a fourth version that will allow the first crews to move into space. This rocket is supposed to fly sometime this year, according to the blue originbut when exactly is not yet clear.

Although people have not been able to climb New Shepard yet, the rocket has given rise to many research experiments. The last flight of the vehicle carried eight microgravity experiments at the edge of space, and this next trip will include 38 payloads of research. Nine of the payloads have been coordinated by NASA's Flight Opportunities program, which helps researchers find ways to test their space experiments in appropriate environments. Some of them include a 3D printing experience in the space and a payload allowing to check the behavior of dust in the space in microgravity. The New Shepard capsule will also carry various instruments developed by schoolchildren.

Takeoff for this flight is scheduled for 9:30 am ET on Thursday, May 2nd. Blue Origin and NASA will broadcast live this show, NASA coverage starting just after 9 am Eastern Time. Then come back to watch New Shepard see the space again.