The photo from April 28, 2018 shows the New Shepard rocket from Blue Origin
By the end of this year, Blue Origin plans to send the first tourists into space. Therefore, on January 23, 2019, Jeff Bezos launched the 10th test flight for the New Shepard rocket. There were no people on board, only 8 scientific experiments for NASA. The rocket flew from the launch pad in western Texas.
After a few minutes of flight, the capsule separated from the launch vehicle (according to plan) and reached a maximum height of 106 km (66 miles). This is exactly the mark to which the company aspires. The international agreement indicates that the boundary of space reaches 100 km above the Earth (the Karman line).
8 minutes after the launch, the rocket booster activated the engines and performed a vertical controlled landing. This is the fourth flight for a specific rocket and the 10th test launch for the New Shepard model as a whole. After a few moments, the capsule sank to Earth with the help of three parachutes and landed in a cloud of dust. The whole mission took 10 minutes and 15 seconds. There are still a few test flights ahead, but the first crew may begin by the end of 2019. Passenger capsule can accommodate 6 people. The price of the ticket has not yet been announced.
The New Shepard rocket reached space for the first time in 2018, having climbed 66 miles in April. Virgin Galactic is also working on its own tourist space transport. On December 13, 2018, the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft climbed 82.7 km. The company has already announced the price of a ticket - $ 250000 per seat.
