Blue Origin Tests Its Rocket Escape System in a VERY Dramatic Way

On Wednesday, Blue Origin had a helluva day. After a handful of short holds, the company's New Shepard rocket lifted off for the fifth time from the Texas desert proving grounds, heading up into space. Like the previous four test flights, this was to be a short suborbital hop: Straight up, pass the 100 kilometer line that demarcates the arbitrary but agreed-upon border of space, then back down to land vertically again. But even for this rocket, this was no ordinary flight. As I wrote earlier in ...