Blue Origin's Rocket is Finally Revealed

It's been a huge secret for several years. Amazon.com's founder Jeff Bezos has a rocket company on the side called Blue Origin. But that's pretty much all we knew.

Well, now we know more. The

Blue Origin website

has been updated with photos and videos of the new Goddard rocket, which blasted off on November 13, 2006 from the West Texas launch facility. For its maiden voyage, the rocket launched vertically, reached an altitude of 87 metres (285 feet), and then landed back down vertically on the launch pad.

Goddard looks like just the nose cone from a much larger rocket, and it will eventually carry paying passengers to the edge of space - an altitude of 100 km (62 miles).

Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log has a

great write up

of the event.

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today, founding the website in March 1999. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast.