Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin is close to launching a passenger flight with Test Flight 15

Take another step to send passengers into space, Jeff Bezos Origin blue The New Shepard unmanned capsule was launched in a semi-orbital flight test Wednesday, using the astronaut’s position before take-off and after landing to practice ascending and descending procedures.

The company has not announced when it will launch for the first time with passengers on board or how much tickets will cost. But after 15 unmanned test flights, the system appears to be on the brink of commercial operation, giving six passengers at a time several minutes of weightlessness and out-of-this-world visibility.

“We are very close to sending people into space and back,” said launch commentator Ariane Cornell.

To help clear the way, company employees walk across the launch bridge before takeoff and are strapped to the New Shepherd capsule just like a customer pays for an actual flight. The prisoners tested their communication equipment and reviewed the launch procedures before leaving to evacuate the platform for flight.

The flight began Wednesday at 12:51 p.m. ET when the hydrogen-fueled BE-3 engine of the New Shepherd missile was ignited with a flared exhaust at the long-range flight test facility at Blue Origin, Van Horn, Texas.

The short missile quickly leaps away from the first launch site, accelerates steadily as it consumes propellant and loses weight, and reaches a top speed of 2,247 mph before launching the crew capsule about two minutes and 40 seconds after take-off.

The capsule then soars to an altitude of 66 miles (348,753 feet), well above the 50 mile “minimum” of space, before beginning its deep descent to Earth. Inside, the mounted test dummy – the Mannequin Skywalker – undergoes microgravity for three to five minutes before atmospheric retarding forces emerge.

Meanwhile, the New Shepard thrusters mounted on the landing pad, restarted the engines and deployed four short landing legs before landing on target. The capsule soared to a relatively soft landing at close range, slowing down as usual with the three large parachutes.

After landing, the astronauts are expected to re-enter the capsule and train in the same post-landing procedures that commercial crews will use after their flight.

The New Shepard system is designed to transport space travelers, government researchers, civilians and various payloads to elevations just above the observable atmosphere, providing a few minutes of microgravity, along with panoramic views through six large windows.

NASA, the Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration consider 50 miles to be the dividing line between space and air that is observed while the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, an international regulatory body for aviation sports and records, sets a threshold of 100 kilometers, or 62 miles.

New Shepard capsules routinely exceed both standards.

The launch marks the fifteenth flight of New Shepard’s rocket and capsule since the program’s first flight six years ago, and the second flight of Blue Origin ‘s first boost capsule destined for an upcoming commercial astronaut mission.

The New Shepard is a sub-orbital missile and spacecraft unable to reach the speeds required to reach orbit. It will compete with Richard Branson’s sub-orbital Virgin Galactic spacecraft for commercial passenger and cargo.

But Blue Origin is developing a Glenn-class orbital rocket that will use a powerful new engine designed by the company, the BE-4, to help propel a large satellite into orbit. The company has built a massive missile plant outside the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to manufacture rockets and is developing a launch complex near the Cape Canaveral space station.

The company is also leading a team, one in three, to design a lunar lander to transport astronauts to and from the lunar surface on NASA’s Artemis program. NASA is expected to award contracts to one and possibly two teams over the next few weeks.

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