Blue Origin has successfully launched - and landed - its third rocket.
The spaceflight company announced details of the successful flight via founder Jeff Bezos' Twitter. "Working to fly again tomorrow. Same vehicle. Third time," he wrote.
Though Blue Origin has launched successful rocket tests before, its third flight was far more ambitious. The rocket engine was restarted 3,600 feet in the air - giving it a much smaller window to successfully land. Bezos described the manoeuvre as "risky" - "impact in 6 sec if engine doesn’t restart & ramp fast," he wrote on Twitter. At its peak, the rocket reached 339,178 feet.
The flight was also home to a new algorithm and two "microgravity experiments" - one testing what would happen if a box of rocks were sent into space, and another designed to "mimic impacts between objects" in an environment of low gravity. The flight was filmed from the air using drone cameras.
Blue Origin rocket flights have not always gone so smoothly. A 2015 test lead to a successful rocket launch, but a crash landing - though the crew compartment landed safely via parachute, the booster experienced a "hydraulic problem" and crashed.
Other flights have fared better - other 2015 tests achieved high altitudes and successful soft landings, and in early 2016 Blue Origin successfully launched a previous rocket, demonstrating reuse.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
