Blue Origin releases video of 400 rocket scientists celebrating the historic New Shepard launch

The newly-released video shows they were pretty happy about the successful test

Doug Bolton
Friday 04 December 2015 13:15 EST
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Blue Origin staff celebrate at the New Shepard landing site
Blue Origin staff celebrate at the New Shepard landing site (Blue Origin)

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In November this year, Blue Origin's Blue Shepard spacecraft became the first ever to land safely (and vertically) back on Earth - and the huge team of rocket scientists and engineers that made the landing possible were pretty excited about it.

Blue Origin, the space travel and transport company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, announced their historic landing on 24 November. On 3 December, they released a video of the staff's jubilant reaction.

The landing of the New Shepard was significant because usually, the rocket boosters that help lift spacecraft to very high altitudes can only be used once - they usually plummet back to Earth and get destroyed.

These single-use boosters raise the cost of travelling to space enormously, because each one needs to be built for each attempt.

However, Blue Origin's New Shepard booster can land safely back on Earth ever after being launched more than 60 miles into the sky.

This means it can be used again and again, taking away the huge costs and long planning periods that usually come with rocket launches.

On top of all that, it's an amazing technical feat, and one that Blue Origin achieved after other companies and space agencies spent years attempting.

As the reaction video shows, everyone at Blue Origin was suitably pleased with their historic achievement.

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