Blue Origin mimics moon gravity on 1st-of-its-kind New Shepard research rocket launch (video)
Blue Origin just launched a first-of-its kind mission to suborbital space.The company, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, sent its reusable New Shepard suborbital vehicle aloft today (Feb. 4) from its West Texas launch site at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT; 10 a.m. local Texas time). That was a week later than originally planned; Blue Origin stood down from a Jan. 28 attempt due to uncooperative weather and an issue with the rocket's avionics.Today's launch kicked off Blue Origin's uncrewed NS-29 mission, so named because it was the 29th New Shepard flight to date. The flight went well, with both booster and capsule returning to Earth for safe touchdowns. However, one of the New Shepard crew capsule's three parachutes appeared not to open fully during descent. But during the company's lives...