New Shepard
Blue Origin's Fully reusable sub orbital booster and Man rated capsule.
Test flight of Crew Capsule 2.0 First Flight in Dec 2017.
This vehicle is closer to the final version of the rocket that will actually carry people to space as it actually has windows, whereas the windows on the last vehicle were just painted on. The rocket could soon have people on board during its test flights.
BO Crew Capsule 2
Blue Origin Jeff Bezos' remarked, 'We'll probably fly test pilots in 2017(Now 2018), and if we're successful then I'd imagine putting paying astronauts on in 2018,'
The next iteration of the New Shepard first flown 12th December 2017 has modifications for improved reusability, such as access panels that enable more rapid servicing in between flights. Blue Origin is also trying to improve New Shepard’s thermal protection.
Mannequin Skywalker’s ride to space onboard Crew Capsule 2.0
The company expects to build six New Shepard vehicles, which are designed to autonomously fly six passengers to more than 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the planet set against the blackness of space.
Simulation of passangers flying in the New Shepard
Test Flights
The first test flight of the "New Shepard" private sub-orbital rocket and capsule took place on 29 April 2015 from its Texas spaceport.
New Shepard Launch - Blue Origin
Built by Blue Origin a company owned by Jeff Bezos "our goals is reusability"
View of Earth from Flight 3 (2 April 2016) Blue Origin
"New Shepard", is named for the first American to reach space, Alan Shepard, who circled the Earth for 15 minutes in 1961 three weeks after Yuri Gargarin became the first man in space.
At a reported altitude of 93km (307,000ft) flight did not quite get as far as space.
The booster that took the capsule up is said to have failed on the way down but an upgraded hydraulic system has already been designed that will fix the problem.
Capsule Landing safely - Blue Origin
The capsule with its large window is aimed at the tourist market if it can be made affordable against Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic rocket planes.
Blue Origin hopes to build a larger version using a new BE-4 engine a 550,000lbf thrust liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen engine currently in development for the United Launch Alliance for its new part NASA funded Vulcan rocket.
Spectacular footage of the third flight of the reusable New Shepard on 2nd April 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."