![]() (The pod returned to Earth via parachute.) Musk’s Falcon 9, on the other hand, seeks to place satellites and humans into low-Earth orbit and beyond. Instead it merely departed the atmosphere and deposited its uncrewed pod at the edge of space for four minutes. Musk is drawing an important distinction. Getting to space needs ~Mach 3, but GTO orbit requires ~Mach 30. ![]() But Falcon 9 rockets failed to complete vertical landings in February and April of this year, and one exploded shortly after launch in June.Īfter Blue Shepard’s announcement, Musk congratulated Bezos on Twitter: Unlike Blue Shepard, which lands upright on land, Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket is meant to rendezvous with a “drone barge” in the middle of the ocean. But Blue Shepard and vehicles like it return to Earth vertically, in the same orientation as how they launched, a task known in the industry as “VTOL” or “vertical take-off and landing.”īlue Shepard’s flight ends a de facto private space-race between two companies founded by victors of the ‘90s tech boom: Bezos’s Blue Origin and Space X, the aerospace firm owned by Elon Musk. ![]() Even the Space Shuttle, which returned to the ground intact and on its own power, required semi-disposable rockets to get it to flight: Its solid rocket boosters fell off during take-off and required months of refurbishment to be usable again. ![]() Previously, rockets that propelled payloads to space were destroyed or lost in the process. ![]()
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