Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos Posts Details of Rocket Launch on Internet

Fri Jan 5, 2007 8:22 PM GMT

HOUSTON, Jan 4 (Reuters Life!) - Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has launched a new product -- literally.

In an Internet message posted this week the Internet billionaire released for the first time details and video of the November 13 launch of the test space vehicle Goddard from his private spaceport near the western Texas town of Van Horn.

The videos show the cone-shaped rocket, about 50 feet (15 meters) tall with four spindly legs, lifting off from a desert launch pad, ascending vertically 285 feet, then returning to Earth in a flight lasting less than a minute.

It was the first test for Bezos' Blue Origin commercial space venture, which is developing a vehicle to take occupants on a 10-minute ride to the edge of space, nearly 60 miles (96 km) above the Earth and back.

"We're working, patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system," Bezos said in his message, dated January 2, on the Web site.

The November launch, he said, "was both useful and fun. Many friends and family came to watch the launch and support the team."

The posting includes photographs from the launch site and video taken from several angles, including from the Goddard. It also has a pitch for job applicants, particularly aerospace engineers.

Bezos did not say when the next test flight would take place, but warned "Accomplishing this mission will take a long time, and we're working on it methodically. We believe in incremental improvement and in keeping investments at a pace that's sustainable."

Eventually, Blue Origin could offer spaceflights that orbit the Earth, Bezos has said.

A number of companies are working on private space ventures, including Virgin Galactic, part of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

Source: Reuters