Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon and aerospace developer Blue Origin, sent a tweet today for the first time since joining Twitter in July 2008. The tweet was to announce that Blue Origin had successfully sent a rocket into space and back, and achieved controlled landing.
The rarest of beasts – a used rocket. Controlled landing not easy, but done right, can look easy. Check out video: https://t.co/9OypFoxZk3
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 24, 2015
This is a big deal. It means that Blue Origin, has beaten Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the race to create the first reusable space rocket. The rocket, New Shepard, flew into space and reached “its planned test altitude of 329,839 feet (100.5 kilometers) before executing a historic landing back at the launch site in West Texas,” according to a statement from the company’s YouTube account.
The video shows engineers preparing the rocket for launch, its launch and journey into space, computer-generated depiction of what it’s like with humans inside, and its safe return to earth, landing safe on its landing pad. The rocket’s return to earth and vertical landing was completely on its own propulsion with no assistance from mechanical parts outside of itself.
It is important to note that this is only New Shepard’s second flight into space, and it has already achieved reusability. SpaceX has tried this multiple times but its Falcon 9 space vehicle has not been able to achieve vertical landing yet.
On the other hand, there were some reactions to Jeff’s first tweet:
https://twitter.com/pmarca/status/669140233716236288
https://twitter.com/Brenda_Kelly/status/669141332573724672
This fellow gets it (I hope you get it too):
@dsilverman He and Elon Musk are engaged in a rocket measuring contest.
— Adrian Kingsley-Hughes🤪 (@the_pc_doc) November 24, 2015
@JeffBezos @pmarca It took a rocket to get you on Twitter. What will it take to make you regular? 🙂
— Subrahmanyam KVJ (@SuB8u) November 24, 2015
Update: Elon Musk congratulates Jeff Bexos and the Blue Origin team. Then, he goes on to explain the difference between “space and “orbit”:
Congrats to Jeff Bezos and the BO team for achieving VTOL on their booster
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015
It is, however, important to clear up the difference between "space" and "orbit", as described well by https://t.co/7PD42m37fZ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015
Getting to space needs ~Mach 3, but GTO orbit requires ~Mach 30. The energy needed is the square, i.e. 9 units for space and 900 for orbit.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015
@elonmusk What do you mean when you say "square"? Clearly 900 is not 9 squared, I apologize, but could you explain?
— Zane Brunsman (@ZaneBrunsman) November 24, 2015
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/669133869761716224
Photo Credit: Mathieu Thouvenin via Compfight cc
