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Blue Origin successfully performed its in-flight test of its crew escape system which was conducted while the booster was at max-Q — which is when there is the maximum "dynamic pressure" acting on the rocket. i.e. the maximum air pressure. Not only did the crew capsule successfully separate from the booster and land safely under parachute, the booster also survived, ascended to over 93km, and successfully performed a powered return landing.
Blue Origin just took another big step toward flying people to space.
The private spaceflight company, which is run by billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, conducted a critical "in-flight escape test" of its crew-carrying New Shepard system today (Oct. 5) — and everything appears to have worked just as expected.
New Shepard consists of a rocket and a capsule, both of which are reusable. Blue Origin is developing the duo to fly people and scientific experiments to and from suborbital space. (The system is named after Alan Shepard, who became the first American in space during a suborbital jaunt in May 1961.)
[...] today's flight was the toughest trial yet, because it forced the capsule to "traverse twice through transonic velocities — the most difficult control region — during the acceleration burn and subsequent deceleration," Bezos wrote last month in a blog post about today's test.
[...] The rocket's landing was a something of a surprise. Bezos predicted a fiery death for the rocket in his blog post last month, writing that the thrust from the escape motor would likely knock the booster off-kilter, causing it to crash and die in a massive fireball.
[...] Today's test marked the fifth and final flight for this particular New Shepard rocket. In November 2015, the booster became the first ever to land after a space mission, and it has now repeated the feat four more times. In his blog post last month, Bezos outlined the booster's fate.
"If the booster does manage to survive this flight — its fifth — we will in fact reward it for its service with a retirement party and put it in a museum," Bezos wrote.
Source: http://www.space.com/34302-blue-origin-space-capsule-escape-test.html
Here is YouTube video of Blue Origin's New Shepard In-flight Escape Test [2m41s] and their Replay of In-flight Escape Test Live Webcast [1h1m31s]. The description from the first link reports:
On October 5, 2016, New Shepard performed an in-flight test of the capsule's full-envelope escape system, designed to quickly propel the crew capsule to safety if a problem is detected with the booster. At T+0:45 and 16,053 feet (4,893 meters), the capsule separated and the escape motor fired, pushing the capsule safely away from the booster. Reaching an apogee of 23,269 feet (7,092 meters), the capsule then descended under parachutes to a gentle landing on the desert floor. After the capsule escape, the booster continued its ascent, reaching an apogee of 307,458 feet (93,713 meters). At T+7:29, the booster executed a controlled, vertical landing back at the West Texas Launch Site, completing its fifth and final mission.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday October 07 2016, @07:16PM
I have yet to hear Blue Origin spin a giant fireball as an "incident", a "RUD" or "If things are not failing, you're not innovating enough".
BUT, they also need to get to LEO, GEO and beyond, before we can fairly compare their shiny toys' reliability.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday October 07 2016, @07:40PM
Oh, Blue Origin had fireball incidents?
I went looking but couldn't find any.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday October 07 2016, @07:45PM
That would be why I have yet to hear it. And I don't expect that they will when it finally happens.
They have a more subdued attitude. Less flashy, or more precisely less flash-bangy.
Might also be because they're trailing.
(Score: 4, Informative) by gman003 on Saturday October 08 2016, @01:20PM
Blue Origin has so far lost two boosters. PM-2 was destroyed in flight - no footage has been made available, and the flight was only announced via an FAA filing. New Shepard 1 flew successfully, but failed to land due to mechanical defect, and was destroyed on impact. Footage of the flight is available but I can't find footage of the booster landing attempt, only the capsule landing by parachute.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 07 2016, @10:45PM
Yeah, you can see ten year olds successfully launch rockets that don't even raise an eyebrow with the FAA. The engineering requirements increase dramatically the larger you build.
Now, it is still possible they have a better review and testing process, in case it hasn't become painfully clear Mr. Musk is on some sort of compressed timeline. I hope he doesn't have insider info about 2050 being the true "end" here on earth!
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday October 07 2016, @10:50PM
It's not insider info if it's your own plot. Muahahahahahahahahahahah!
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday October 08 2016, @05:48AM
There's a saying in the machining trade: "first make it good, then make it fast." I think that applies to rockets just as much.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek