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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: 2) by archfeld on Sunday October 09 2016, @12:11AM
Well I would start off by 'typing', that I didn't sound like anything, unless you are hearing voices, or are using text to voice software and follow up with a typed sentence that stated I was just referring to the title of the article "Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Space Capsule Aces Dramatic In-Flight Escape Test". I would further then point out that the rest of the text supported the initial question about his view of the world and my curiosity about his state of mind, but that seemed rather obvious to me. The meat of the issue was whether Bezos actually considered the rocket his absolute possession, or the result of 1000's of talented individuals brought together by his vision, and admittedly his vast dollars. I'd say bottom line is you are the one making premature and unsupported judgement, but it could be attributed to my phrasing or communication breakdown because of lack of direct viewing.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday October 09 2016, @01:08AM
The meat of the issue was whether Bezos actually considered the rocket his absolute possession, or the result of 1000's of talented individuals brought together by his vision, and admittedly his vast dollars.
Again, you don't sound curious. You sound like you're looking for an excuse to judge Bezos's motives. The above comment is far from the meat. Sure, it might matter whether or not Bezos considers the rocket his "absolute possession". After all, that sort of mentality could cause morale issues in Blue Origin's employees even to the point of destroying the company or amusing Freudian slips by Bezos in public. But lots of people are extremely narcissistic. And a fair number of them are pretty wealthy too. They don't all build rocket businesses. So there's something beyond ego that needs to be explained here.
Here, I think the answer is Star Trek [dailyworlds.com].
Amazon’s CEO said the original inspiration for the Echo was the talking computers of Star Trek. While the Echo team is still quite a ways away from reaching that goal, he didn’t feel too badly because after all, Star Trek was set more than 250 years in the future.
“We still have a couple of centuries, but I don’t think we’ll need that much time,” Bezos said.
Bezos said he grew up playing pretend Star Trek every day with his friends when he was in fourth grade in Houston.
“We would fight over who got to be Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock, and somebody played the computer too. It was really fun. We made little cardboard phasers and tricorders. Good days,” he said.
Here, a better world is portrayed, one which involves routine space travel, and whether egotistical or not, why wouldn't a big fan think "Maybe I can help make that happen?"
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Sunday October 09 2016, @05:58AM
I certainly did not intend to be judgmental, and I am glad that you took the time to continue to debate the point. That bit about him playing Star trek was enlightening, and probably a genuine insight into the character of Jeff Bezos. I think that I need to do some reading and review my mental picture of the man. I have been referred to as a cynic before, though I like to think of myself as more of a realist. I honestly hope we, 'humanity' have as bright a future as Gene Roddenberry pictured vs. something as dark as that envisioned by Philip K. Dick in Electric Sheep 'Bladerunner'.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge