After a seven-month hiatus from spaceflight, private aerospace company Blue Origin is set to fly its New Shepard rocket to space and back again on the company’s 12th overall test flight. It’ll be the sixth time this particular New Shepard vehicle has seen space and then landed back on Earth. If all goes well, this rocket will hold the record for most trips to space out of any other New Shepard vehicle.
The New Shepard is Blue Origin’s passenger rocket, designed to take crews of six to the edge of space to experience a few minutes of weightlessness. The vehicle is meant to take off vertically from the ground, carrying a capsule to 62 miles or 100 kilometers up, a height many consider to be above the boundary to space. While high above the…