Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company Blue Origin is on a roll.
The company's New Shepard rocket flew again on Saturday, soaring to 339,178 feet, just outside of the Earth's atmosphere, before landing safely back on Earth. If you think you've heard this story before, it's because you have: this marks Blue Origin's third successful flight with the same hardware in less than five months — an impressive feat that further proves reusable rockets are now a reality.
Typically, rockets are not salvageable and crash into the ocean after a mission. So companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX have been working on rockets that can be reused, saving precious man hours and money for future flights.
"We pushed the envelope on this flight, restarting the engine for the propulsive landing only 3,600 feet above the ground, requiring the BE-3 engine to start fast and ramp to high thrust fast," Blue Origin said. For a look at the epic flight this weekend, check out the video below.
The New Shepard has two main parts: a crew capsule in which astronauts will ride and a rocket booster powered by an American-made BE-3 liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen engine.
The rocket made its first successful test flight
in November, flying from Blue Origin's West Texas test site to a planned altitude of 329,839 feet before making its first historic landing back on solid ground. The used rocket then made its second skyward journey in January, reaching a final altitude of 333,582 feet, which is just a smidge over the Karman Line's 328,084 feet (100 kilometers)—the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space.
This third test marked New Shepard's farthest journey into space yet.
"Flawless BE-3 restart and perfect booster landing," Bezos tweeted on Saturday. He also confirmed that the crew capsule parachutes successfully deployed.