Back in January, Blue Origin relaunched its rocket after successfully landing it in November 2015. They just launched it again.
Jeff Bezos has been on Twitter with a surprise announcement that they would be launching the rocket again, and will be attempting to land the vehicle for the third time.
The mission will be carrying a pair of microgravity experiments with into space – the Box of Rocks experiment, which will examine how the surfaces of asteroids behave, and the Collisions Into Dust Experiment, which will help scientists understand how low-gravity impacts work.
The company launched the rocket with little fanfare:
Liftoff and New Shepard is climbing to apogee. @BlueOrigin
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 2, 2016
Update 11:27 am EST: It looks like they nailed the landing, and the crew capsule is on its way down.
Flawless BE-3 restart and perfect booster landing. CC chutes
deployed. @BlueOrigin— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 2, 2016
Bezos noted that they had deployed drones around the launch, which should capture some good footage.
Update 11:32 am EST: The Crew capsule successfully landed.
CC touchdown confirmed. #LaunchLandRepeat @BlueOrigin
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 2, 2016
Update 11:43 am EST: Jeff Bezos showing off his lucky boots, with the Blue Origin motto burned into the leather:
My Gradatim Ferociter boots. Gift from a friend & they brought luck today. #LaunchLandRepeat @BlueOrigin pic.twitter.com/3szqLGMI7s
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 2, 2016