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AMAZON boss Jeff Bezos’ space firm has successfully launched and landed a rocket that could soon be used for tourist flights.

Blue Origin, the private rocket-maker run by Bezos, is aiming to fire its first paying passengers into space as early as this year.

Jeff Bezos’ space firm has successfully launched and landed a rocket that could soon be used for tourist flights
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Jeff Bezos’ space firm has successfully launched and landed a rocket that could soon be used for tourist flights
The rocket's capsule touched back down in a 'nice soft landing'
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The rocket's capsule touched back down in a 'nice soft landing'

And the firm came one step closer to achieving this ambitious goal with the record breaking launch of its New Shepard rocket on Thursday.

Lifting off from Blue Origin’s facility in West Texas, the mission was the first time the company launched and landed one of its rockets five times.

The New Shepard rocket climbed to an altitude of 346,406 feet — more than 100km or 62 miles up.

Preliminary data showed the rocket reached nearly Mach 3 as it ascended, nearly three times the speed of sound.

The rocket's capsule touched back down in a “nice soft landing” in a mission lasting around 10 minutes.

Blue Origin hailed the flight as "wholly successful" and said it showed the rocket could be safely re-used for multiple flights.

The New Shepard rocket climbed to an altitude of 346,406 feet
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The New Shepard rocket climbed to an altitude of 346,406 feet
The tourist trips will take six passengers to the edge of space where they would float in zero gravity for a couple of minutes before returning to Earth
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The tourist trips will take six passengers to the edge of space where they would float in zero gravity for a couple of minutes before returning to Earth
Parachutes are needed to ensure the capsule's safe landing
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Parachutes are needed to ensure the capsule's safe landing

Blue Origin has successfully launched several test rockets already and promises to send up its first crewed flight later this year.

The tourist trips will take six passengers to the edge of space where they would float in zero gravity for a couple of minutes before returning to Earth.

But the firm isn't stopping there. It's already signed a deal with Nasa to build a robotic moon lander, dubbed Blue Moon.

The unmanned craft will be capable of dropping off payloads of up to five tons on the lunar surface, and will pull off its first moon landing in 2024, according to Blue Origin.

Blue Origin is building its very own moon lander with the help of Nasa. Little is known about the vehicle, dubbed Blue Moon (artist's impression)
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Blue Origin is building its very own moon lander with the help of Nasa. Little is known about the vehicle, dubbed Blue Moon (artist's impression)Credit: Blue Origin

Blue Origin - The key facts

Here's everything you need to know...

  • Blue Origin is a private space firm based in Seattle, USA
  • It's run and funded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos – the world's richest man
  • Like bitter rival SpaceX, Blue Origin is aiming to make space travel cheaper via reusable rockets
  • Its spacecraft can launch, land back on Earth, and then launch again a few days later
  • Currently, the company is mostly focussed on space flights for tourists
  • These will see groups of six paying passengers fire to the edge of space aboard a small rocket dubbed New Shepard
  • Blue Origin aims to launch its first manned flights in late 2019

Bezos has repeatedly promised to get millions of people working and living in space by moving mining and other heavy industry to spots like the Moon.

Alongside Blue Moon, the company is working on a new long-distance rocket called New Armstrong.

It's named after Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the lunar surface.

Photo (right) and thermal (left) images of the Moon's Shackleton crater. It's thought the crater has clumps of frozen water hidden in its icy depths. You can see this ice lit up in blue in the left image
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Photo (right) and thermal (left) images of the Moon's Shackleton crater. It's thought the crater has clumps of frozen water hidden in its icy depths. You can see this ice lit up in blue in the left imageCredit: Nasa

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Nasa revealed plans for a permanent moon base last year, with boss Jim Bridenstine declaring "we want lots of humans in space".

It recently picked Blue Origin rival SpaceX to front a world-first mission to deflect a hazardous space rock by crashing a spaceship into it in 2022.

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