Rocket Launch from West Texas - Hurry to Watch

[ELB]

Blue Origin is launching one of its rockets from it's launch facility north of Van Horn today, in about 20 minute.

Live video here starting at T-15. http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13165 ... watch-live

This will not go into space -- they are testing the crew escape capability, so partway through the ascent the (unmanned!) crew capsule will be jettisoned. Pundits expect the rocket booster to be destroyed by the forces involved in the jettisoning of the crew compartment, but there is a small chance it might come down and land by itself. The booster has been launched four times previously, and has landed itself successfully each time (all at the Van Horn facility I believe).

You can also watch the live feed at Blue Origin's website: https://www.blueorigin.com/

[ELB]

Or maybe right here:

https://youtube.com/watch?feature=playe ... qUIX3Z4r3k

[TreyHouston]

looks like it was delayed and going now...

[ELB]

Still holding...

I wish I had read about this earlier, but I only saw it announced yesterday. If I could have arranged the day off I would have driven out there to watch.

[ELB]

So launch is reset to be in 15 minutes or so, about 10:40 a.m. Texas time.

[Jusme]

WOW!!

That was pretty awesome, both the launch vehicle and the crew capsule landed softly and safely.

[ELB]

That was amazing. Five successful landings by that booster.

[GeekwithaGun]

This was science fiction not too long ago, now closer to becoming a reality for future. Spectacular booster re-entry and landing.

[TreyHouston]

That was like something out of a sci-fi movie. Amazing how you can launch a booster to outerspace and have it laying back in the same spot unharmed. Absolutely amazing. I should've been a aerospace engineer like my sister

[RoyGBiv]

Outstanding!

[bblhd672]

Wow...very cool. Why do we need taxpayer funded NASA anymore? Private entities seem to be successfully doing the cutting edge technology and development.

[ELB]

I believe I have correctly identified the points of interest below. From south to north, the checkout building, the launch pad, and the landing pad are each about 2 miles apart. Don't know where the crew capsule came down but it wasn't far away.

[gthaustex]

Wow!!! Pretty impressive.

[WildBill]

Here is a another link to the video on Space.com

http://www.space.com/34302-blue-origin- ... -test.html