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Blue Origin Launches and Lands New Shepard

Mannequin Skywalker was the lucky passenger experiencing zero gravity at 351,000 feet.

 & Matthew Humphries Former Senior Editor

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Jeff Bezos has big plans for space, and the latest successful launch of Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital booster and crew capsule suggest he's going to achieve them.

As Mashable reports, on Sunday, New Shepard Mission 8 was launched in Texas and managed to achieve a maximum altitude of 351,000 feet before the rocket landed and the crew capsule floated back down to Earth using parachutes. Liftoff to touchdown took around 10 minutes.

New Shepard is a suborbital spaceflight system consisting of a rocket booster and crew capsule with room for at least three people. It's a fully-automated system, capable of landing both the rocket and the crew capsule for reuse. For Mission 8, Mannequin Skywalker was aboard the crew capsule and covered in sensors to grab some valuable data regarding what a person would experience during the launch, flight, and landing.

The success of this latest test flight is exciting for anyone who'd like to be blasted off the ground attached to a rocket in order to experience zero gravity while looking back down at the Earth. Bezos intends to offer just that experience to customers in the future. No doubt you'll have to be a Prime subscriber to get on board, though.

About Our Expert

Matthew Humphries

Matthew Humphries

Former Senior Editor

My Experience

I started working at PCMag in November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.

I hold two degrees: a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Games Development. My first book, Make Your Own Pixel Art, is available from all good book shops.

My Areas of Expertise

  • PC components and system building
  • Raspberry Pi
  • Software development
  • Storage technology
  • Video games and gaming hardware

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