Blue OriginBlue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is a private American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own rockets, Blue Origin supplies engines for other vehicles, including United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur.
BE-3BE-3 (Blue Engine 3) is a cryogenic rocket engine using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as propellants. Blue Origin began BE-3 development in the early 2010s and the engine completed acceptance testing in early 2015. The BE-3PM variant is used on the New Shepard suborbital rocket, which made its first test flight on April 29, 2015, and had its first crewed flight on July 20, 2021.
Reusable launch vehicleVehicles that can go to space and returnRecovery of Falcon 9 first-stage booster after its first landing
Launch vehicleA launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage rocket, but the term is more general and also encompasses vehicles like the Space Shuttle. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, supported by a launch control center and systems such as vehicle assembly and fueling.
Sub-orbital spaceflightA sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the vehicle reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched. Hence, it will not complete one orbital revolution, will not become an artificial satellite nor will it reach escape velocity.
VTVLVertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) is a form of takeoff and landing for rockets. Multiple VTVL craft have flown. A notable VTVL vehicle was the Apollo Lunar Module which delivered the first humans to the Moon. Building on the decades of development, SpaceX utilised the VTVL concept for its flagship Falcon 9 first stage, which has delivered over five hundred successful powered landings so far. VTVL technologies were first seriously developed for the Apollo program.
Apollo 14Apollo 14 (January 31 – February 9, 1971) was the eighth crewed mission in the United States Apollo program operated by NASA, the third to land on the Moon, and the first to land in the lunar highlands. It was the last of the "H missions", landings at specific sites of scientific interest on the Moon for two-day stays with two lunar extravehicular activities (EVAs or moonwalks).
Alan ShepardAmerican astronaut (1923–1998)Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American astronaut. In 1961, he became the second person and the first American to travel into space and, in 1971, he became the fifth and oldest person to walk on the Moon, at age 47. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Shepard saw action with the surface navy during World War II. He became a naval aviator in 1947, and a test pilot in 1950.
Space tourismHuman space travel for recreationToyohiro Akiyama spent seven days on the Mir space station in 1990, becoming the first civilian to fly aboard a commercial space flight.Soyuz MS-20 crew on the International Space Station, from left to right: Yusaku Maezawa (Spaceflight Participant), Alexander Misurkin (cosmonaut), and Yozo Hirano (Spaceflight Participant).
List of space travelers by nationalityMap of countries (and successor states) that have sent humans into space as of June 2025. In dark blue are countries with their own human spacecraft.The criteria for determining who has achieved human spaceflight vary.
Kármán lineThe Kármán line (or von Kármán line) is a conventional definition of the edge of space; it is widely but not universally accepted. The international record-keeping body FAI (Fédération aéronautique internationale) defines the Kármán line at an altitude of 100 kilometres (54 nautical miles; 62 miles; 328,084 feet) above mean sea level.
WeightlessnessWeightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, misleadingly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the force on an object at rest in a relatively strong gravitational field (such as on the surface of the Earth). These weight-sensations originate from contact with supporting floors, seats, beds, scales, and the like.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.