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Blue Origin launches, marks sixth reuse of a New Shepard booster

By Paul Brinkmann
Blue Origin's Tail 3 booster launches a capsule on Wednesday in West Texas, the sixth time that booster has launched. Photo courtesy of Blue Origin
1 of 2 | Blue Origin's Tail 3 booster launches a capsule on Wednesday in West Texas, the sixth time that booster has launched. Photo courtesy of Blue Origin

Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Jeff Bezos' space company, Blue Origin, launched one of its New Shepard boosters for a sixth time Wednesday from West Texas on a research mission.

The launch, just before noon, was the first time a Blue Origin booster has been reused so many times. Company officials said it reached a height of about 65 miles, which is above the Kármán line that defines space. Overall it was the 12th launch for the New Shepard model.

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Blue Origin outlined several payloads on board, including an art contest for the rock band OK Go, called Art in Space, flying two art experiments by high school and middle school students.

There also was an experiment from graduate students at Columbia University to study the acute impacts of microgravity on cell biology and a NASA experiment from Kennedy Space Center creating a mixture of gases from common waste that could be used in spacecraft propulsion or life support.

Blue Origin has plans to launch people on New Shepard, but no such flights have been scheduled.

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The NS-12 mission had been postponed Tuesday due to weather at the company's launch site near Van Horn, Texas. It was also delayed several times Wednesday morning because of fog.

Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's head of astronaut strategy and sales, said the fog had posed a problem because commercial flights in the area must be able to see the launch.

In comments before the launch. Cornell emphasized that the New Shepard is designed for a soft landing, partly to appeal to future passengers.

"Pillow soft actually it's like 1 or 2 miles per hour, almost like sitting down in a chair," Caitlin Dietrich, director of public relations, said.

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