The secretive BLUE ORIGIN SPACEFLIGHT COMPANY, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, successfully tested its emergency rocket escape system, a capsule-based pad abort concept, for a new private spaceship in October 2012. NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner Blue Origin conducted a successful pad escape test Friday at the company's West Texas launch site, firing its pusher-escape motor and launching a full-scale suborbital crew capsule from a simulated propulsion module.The suborbital crew capsule traveled to an altitude of 2,307 feet (703 meters) during the flight test before descending safely by parachute to a soft landing 1,630 feet (497 meters) away.The pusher escape system was designed and developed by Blue Origin to allow crew escape in the event of an emergency during any phase of ascent for its suborbital New Shepard system. As part of an incremental development program, the results of this test will shape the design of the escape system for the company's orbital biconic-shaped Space Vehicle. The system is expected to enable full reusability of the launch vehicle, which is different from NASA's previous launch escape systems that would pull a spacecraft away from its rocket before reaching orbit.Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/22/4929904/nasa-commercial-crew-partner-blue.html#storylink=cpyRead more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/22/4929904/nasa-commercial-crew-partner-blue.html#storylink=cpyBlue Origin completed a systems requirement review of the proposed spacecraft. The test was designed to show that the spacecraft can meet safety and mission requirement for low-Earth orbit missions. Critics of the program have warned that NASA must ensure strict safety measures during development of commercial spacecraft given the inherent danger of manned spaceflight. NASA said Blue Origin (Kent, Wash.) also fired the thrust chamber assembly on its 100,000-pound thrust BE-3 LIQUID OXYGEN-HYDROGEN ROCKET ENGINE. The reusable booster is designed to launch into orbit a biconic-shaped spacecraft currently under development. The successful test took place in early October 2012 on a test stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
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