spacetoday.net: Blue Origin reveals spacecraft details

Posted: Wed, Jun 15, 2005, 8:01 AM ET (1201 GMT)
Blue Origin, the secretive commercial spaceflight startup funded by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos, has released new details about their plans to offer suborbital passenger spaceflights. A brief summary posted on the company's web site several days ago described the company's plan to launch manned spacecraft from property the company owns in Culberson County in western Texas. Blue Origin's unnamed suborbital RLV will launch and land vertically from the site, using engines powered by kerosene and hydrogen peroxide. Blue Origin plans to begin test flights beginning as early as the third quarter of next year, with commercial flights carrying three or more people to follow. The summary originally stated that such flights would take place up to 52 times a year, but the flight rate has since been deleted from the summary. The release was timed with public hearing the company is holding this week in Van Horn, Texas, part of the process needed for the company to obtain a launch license from the FAA.