West Texas…Last Month Jeff Bezos CEO of both Amazon and Blue Origin announced that in early October the New Shepard Rocket would be launched for a fifth time. The proposed launch was to test the New Shepard rocket escape system.The escape system can quickly propel the crew capsule to safety if a problem is detected with the booster.

Photo Courtesy of Blue Origin

This morning the New Shepard Rocket was launched from Blue Origin’s test site in West Texas.The capsule escape motor slammed the booster with 70,000 pounds of off-axis force delivered by searing hot exhaust. The crew capsule detached from the booster and released drones for a safe decent back to earth. The booster continued upwards and into space.

The booster itself was never designed to survive an in-flight escape.”If the booster does manage to survive this flight – its fifth – we will in fact reward it for its service with a retirement party and put it in a museum.” said Jeff Bezos,”In the more likely event that we end up sacrificing the booster in service of this test, it will still have most of its propellant on board at the time escape is triggered, and its impact with the desert floor will be most impressive.”

The crew capsule successfully landed back in west Texas at an approximate speed of 15 miles per hour. Despite expectations of the booster being destroyed;shortly after the crew capsule landed, the booster re-entered the earth’s atmosphere and landed itself.