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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin blasted its New Shepard rocket into space for the 15th time, taking it one step closer to launching astronauts

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin blasted its New Shepard rocket into space for the 15th time, taking it one step closer to launching astronauts

Kate Duffy

Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue OriginGetty Images / Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched and landed the 15th test flight of its rocket New Shepard on Wednesday.
The mission didn't have a crew onboard but marked a "verification step" before flying astronauts.
Jeff Bezos posted two videos of the booster and capsule returning to Earth on Instagram.

The 60-foot-tall New Shepard rocket, consisting of a booster and capsule, launched from Launch Site One in West Texas on Wednesday

Blue Origin New Shepard launch Blue Origin

This was the 15th consecutive test flight of New Shepard which reached 3,596 km/h (2,234 mph) when blasting off from Earth, Blue Origin said in a statement.

The last flight of New Shepard was on January 14, when it sent a crash-test dummy named "Mannequin Skywalker" into space.

Wednesday's mission, called NS-15, reached about 106 kilometers altitude and lasted just over 10 minutes

Capsule returning to Earth Blue Origin

The goal of New Shepard is to send people on a 100-kilometer (62-mile) journey above Earth's surface lasting 11 minutes.

A maximum of six people can fit into the capsule that sits on top of the booster.

No humans were onboard, but the MS-15 test flight marked a "verification step" before the rocket can send astronauts into space, Blue Origin said in the press release.

Big windows in the capsule give passengers a clear view of the Earth

View out of the capsule window Blue Origin

Each seat in the capsule has its own window.

Once the capsule past the Karman line - the unofficial boundary of space - it descended back down to Earth

Capsule successfully landed Blue Origin

The capsule separated from the rocket booster minutes into the journey and reached 106 kilometres altitude. When it reentered the atmosphere, it opened its parachutes and landed in the West Texas desert.

Meanwhile, the rocket booster restarted its engine to hover down onto a concrete landing pad

Booster landing Blue Origin

You can watch live footage of the launch and landing of New Shepard on Blue Origin's YouTube page.

The successful landing of the rocket booster means that Blue Origin can reuse it for future missions

Booster on landing pad after landing Blue Origin

Reusability has become a common trend in the space industry recently.

SpaceX is also well known for its reusable Falcon 9 rockets which frequently launch satellites into orbit. Elon Musk's space company tends to catch its rocket boosters on droneships in the Atlantic Ocean.

Although New Shepard didn't take any humans into space, the mission included a test of loading and unloading the crew from the capsule

Blue Origin team stand in front of capsule Blue Origin

The company strapped a dummy called Mannequin Skywalker into the capsule, as well as 25,000 postcards from Club for the Future, a nonprofit founded by Blue Origin.

After the landing, the team went inside the capsule to rehearse opening the hatch and exiting the capsule door

Blue Origin team testing out capsule Blue Origin

The capsule is fitted with acoustics and temperature regulation, crew display panels, and speakers with a microphone and push-to-talk button on every seat, Sara Blask, a spokesperson for Blue Origin told Insider in January after the NS-14 mission.