The crew capsule on the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket that blasted off on April 29 reached an apogee of 351,000 feet. The test was a successful reflight of the vehicle flown on Blue Origin’s last mission. The team explained the launch in an email, writing:
New Shepard flew again for the eighth time on April 29, 2018, from Blue Origin’s West Texas Launch Site. Known as Mission 8 (M8), the mission featured a reflight of the vehicle flown on Mission 7. The Crew Capsule reached an apogee of 351,000 feet (66 miles, 107 kilometers) – the altitude we’ve been targeting for operations.
For the second time, Blue Origin’s test dummy “Mannequin Skywalker” flew to space conducting astronaut telemetry and science studies. The flight also carried research payloads for NASA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and commercial customers. Learn more about the payloads in our blog post.
We look forward to sharing upcoming test flights as we continue our progress toward human spaceflight.
Jeff Bezos took to Twitter to tout the mission’s success:
Highlights from today’s mission. Don’t miss the Nerf ball doing a few backflips in zero gravity. #GradatimFerociter @BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/YxlJRt0MXc
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 30, 2018
Replay of New Shepard Mission 8 Livestream
Originally posted on Yoursurvivalguy.com.
