Blue Origin launches New Shepard for the first time in a year

New Shepard launching on M7 - Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket fired up its BE-3 engine and lifted off from their launch facility in West Texas on its seventh mission (M7). The launch featured the first flight of the Crew Capsule 2.0 with real windows instead of the painted on ones used in previous flights. They measure about 3.5ft tall and 2.4ft wide, which is larger than the windows in a Boeing 747. This mission also included 12 payloads for research and education purposes. The flight reached a maximum altitude of 98.27km AGL with a successful landing of the booster and the crew capsule. The capsule and booster will most likely be recovered and reused for the next test flight. A video of the launch and landing can be viewed on their YouTube channel.