The rocket model that will take Jeff Bezos and three others into space on Tuesday has performed almost flawlessly on 15 previous launches. Almost.

On the first try in April 2015, the pioneering self-landing booster rocket crashed to Earth and was destroyed.

Blue Origin engineers responded, perfecting the innovative launch technology theyB次元官网网址檇 created with the New Shepard rocket B次元官网网址� though the failure highlights the difficulty and the attendant risks.

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 the reason we do test,B次元官网网址� said Gary Lai, lead designer of New Shepard. B次元官网网址淲e found the problem from that mission, which was an issue with the hydraulic system, and we fixed it.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淲e look for those gems of learning that will allow us to improve the next mission,B次元官网网址� he added. B次元官网网址淎nd when that works out and you nail it, thatB次元官网网址檚 the best professional feeling of satisfaction you can ever get.B次元官网网址�

TuesdayB次元官网网址檚 launch, scheduled for 6 a.m. Pacific time, which will be streamed at BlueOrigin.com, will be the first time the New Shepard rocket has carried people.

Bezos will be accompanied by his younger brother, Mark Bezos; 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, son of a private equity CEO who bought the ticket for an undisclosed price; and 82-year-old Wally Funk, one of the original female astronaut candidates for NASA who qualified for the Mercury missions but never got to go to space.

Blue OriginB次元官网网址檚 engineering leadership is confident the technology is ready.

Its marketers are now selling space tourist rides, with ticket pricing undisclosed but expected to be in the range of $300,000 to $500,000 per 11-minute trip.

B次元官网网址淚f there was any sort of technical issue and risk that we were worried about, weB次元官网网址檝e already taken care of that,B次元官网网址� said Lai.

Something new in the world

Blue Origin, funded by BezosB次元官网网址� Amazon-fueled wealth, had only about 400 employees when New Shepard first flew. ItB次元官网网址檚 grown rapidly to about 3,700 now, including about 2,600 based at the Kent headquarters.

The rest are at the Blue Origin launch site in the remote desert scrubland outside Van Horn in West Texas; at the factory now building its forthcoming New Glenn orbital rocket at Kennedy Space Center, Florida; and at its rocket engine plant in Huntsville, Alabama.

Before 2015, few outside of science fiction had imagined, and no one had seen, the innovation New Shepard was the first to pull off.

After the passenger capsule separates, the booster rocket is designed to return to Earth with a pinpoint vertical landing on a pad about 2 miles from where it took off.

All previous space launches B次元官网网址� by the U.S., Russia and other nations B次元官网网址� treated the booster rockets as expendable. NASA launches its missions from Florida so its big boosters can fall into the ocean.

Instead, Blue Origin designed New Shepard to be reusable B次元官网网址� a critical element in bringing down the cost of space launches.

On the April 2015 launch, it didnB次元官网网址檛 work. The uncrewed capsule detached as planned and rose for a few minutes into space, then floated down safely with parachutes. But the booster rocket crashed to Earth and was destroyed.

The hydraulic system that deploys the drag brakes and the landing legs had lost pressure during the descent, it turned out.

Just six-and-a-half months later, however, New Shepard flew for the second time, and this time the booster rocket stuck the landing, as it has done on all subsequent launches.

The 15 New Shepard launches have been conducted using only four rockets. Demonstrating the reusability, one of those flew up and down seven times.

B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 the reason we become engineers, to innovate on that level,B次元官网网址� said Lai. B次元官网网址淭here were so many things that we knew we couldnB次元官网网址檛 model and we just had to test it.B次元官网网址�

B次元官网网址淭here was a period of extreme elation,B次元官网网址� he said of that first success in November 2015. B次元官网网址淵ou feel satisfaction that youB次元官网网址檙e working on a team that has this capability.B次元官网网址�

Musk vs Bezos

Just a month after that first successful Blue Origin flight, commercial space rival SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, emulated the vertical rocket landing for the first stage of its much larger Falcon 9 orbital booster. SpaceX has made it almost routine since then B次元官网网址� though not quite.

Beginning in 2010, SpaceX has launched its Falcon 9 rockets 122 times B次元官网网址� many more launches than Blue Origin B次元官网网址� and since its first booster landing in 2015 it has successfully repeated 81 landings either on a ground pad or a drone ship. But last year, it suffered two failures and lost the boosters, and it lost another in February this year.

In March, an uncrewed prototype of the even bigger SpaceX Starship crashed during a landing attempt.

Still, SpaceX has already completed three crewed missions, ferrying a total of 10 astronauts from Earth to the International Space Station.

MuskB次元官网网址檚 swashbuckling attitude B次元官网网址� bypassing the tamer suborbital phase of spaceflight to go directly to orbital rockets and pushing ahead through multiple uncrewed failures B次元官网网址� has given SpaceX a huge lead over Blue Origin in the commercial space business.

In April, NASA awarded the sole contract for the next moon mission to SpaceX, rejecting a bid from Blue Origin, which has filed a protest.

BezosB次元官网网址檚 tortoise-vs-hare approach B次元官网网址� which he has embedded in Blue Origin emblems and its Latin motto, B次元官网网址楤次元官网网址淕radatim FerociterB次元官网网址� or B次元官网网址渟tep by step ferociouslyB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� is certainly more appropriate for spaceflight with humans on board.

Asked about the rivalry with SpaceX, Lai said: B次元官网网址淲e have an approach. We are sticking to it.

B次元官网网址淲e do have the same goals of flying orbital rockets eventually with people,B次元官网网址� he added.

That makes Tuesday a critical milestone for Blue Origin.

Like us on and follow us on .

Want to support local journalism? Make a donation