New Shepard flew again on April 2, 2016 reaching an apogee of 339,178 feet or 103 kilometers. It was the third flight with the same hardware. 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 tested a new algorithm for the crew capsule which separates from the rocket and lands via parachutes. The New Shepard got some additional cargo: a couple microgravity experiments.
Video from yesterday's flight now live: https://t.co/vBvPYpGFrQ Great view of dramatic booster deceleration.— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 3, 2016
Flawless BE-3 restart and perfect booster landing. CC chutes
deployed. @BlueOrigin— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 2, 2016
Pushing the envelope. Restarting BE-3 fast @ high thrust, just 3600 ft from ground. Impact in 6 sec if engine doesn’t restart & ramp fast.— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 1, 2016
SOURCES – Twitter, Blue Origin, Youtube, wired
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