Mock crew straps into space capsule but exits before lift-off

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Mock Crew Straps Into Space Capsule But Exits Before Lift-Off
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By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin company strapped two employees into a fuelled rocketship for practice, but pulled them out shortly before sending the capsule to the edge of space with only a test dummy on board.

The crew rehearsal in West Texas brings Blue Origin closer to launching tourists and others into space.

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Blue Origin wanted to see how well a crew could get in and out of the capsule.


The pretend astronauts also tested seatbelts and radio links before the 10-minute flight, and went back to the capsule following touchdown to climb aboard for recovery practice.

“While there are no astronauts on board today, that was a critical step toward our march toward first human flight,” flight commentator Ariane Cornell said from company headquarters in Kent, Washington.

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The company is “very close” to flying passengers, she noted.

Blue Origin’s goal is to take paying customers on short hops providing three minutes of weightlessness. Windows make up one-third of the six-seat capsule.

It was the 15th flight of a New Shepard rocket, named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard.


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The capsule reached an altitude of 66 miles, just above the official border of space.

The reusable booster landed upright seven minutes after lift-off. The capsule touched down under parachutes about three minutes later.

Before the flight, four mock astronauts made the two-mile drive to the launch pad and climbed up the tower. But only two – a company lawyer and a senior programme director – crawled into the capsule.

Besides the space-suited Mannequin Skywalker, the capsule carried more than 25,000 postcards from youngsters as part of the company’s Club for the Future.

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