Amazon is getting ready for Space Tourism

Ran across a video today of the 4th flight of Blue Origin's "New Shepard" reusable space vehicle, designed for low Earth orbit flights. The vehicle name is a nod to Alan Shepard. Blue Origin is owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com. Commercial flights are reported to begin sometime in 2018.

Youtube video (Here)

Blue Origin Website (Here)

Wikipedia article of New Shepard (Here)

That looks pretty cool with the exception of the spine compressing landing. I wonder if I can charge this to my Amazon card. :))

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Originally Posted by STMahlberg

That looks pretty cool with the exception of the spine compressing landing. I wonder if I can charge this to my Amazon card. :))

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That landing technique is nothing new and apparently fairly soft on impact. The Russians use this method and IIRC has only failed once. Luckily for those Cosmonauts, they were already dead when their capsule pancaked. A hatch seal failed on reentry of Earth's atmo and they were basically incinerated within seconds.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fire$torm

...only failed once.... they were already dead... capsule pancaked... A hatch seal failed... incinerated within seconds.

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Suddenly, I don't feel like going for a ride anymore. =))