Blue Origin

Blue Origin and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opened a new exhibit: a virtual reality experience inside the New Shephard crew capsule. It uses actual footage from a New Shepard flight coupled with VR to provide an authentic trip to space.

Amazon has launched the first test satellites for its planned internet service. United Launch Alliance's Atlas rocket blasted off Friday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with the two test satellites.

Jeff Bezos' rocket company has suffered its first launch failure. Barely a minute into the flight, bright yellow flames shot out from around the single engine and the capsule’s emergency launch abort system immediately kicked in, lifting the craft off the top. It parachuted onto the remote desert floor, but the rocket crashed back to Earth. The rocket is the same kind Blue Origin uses to send paying customers on short rides to the edge of space.

Next week, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket is set to take 6 people to the edge of space and back. Central Florida married couple Sharon and Marc Hagle will be on the flight from West Texas.

By the end of the 2020s, Blue Origin says its planned Orbital Reef commercial space station will become "the premier mixed-use space station in low Earth orbit for commerce, research, and tourism."

William Shatner makes it to space (and back.) Blue Origin successfully launched and landed its new Shepherd rocket again Wednesday morning in Texas. The spacecraft took actor William Shatner and three others to an altitude of more than 100 kilometers before landing about 10 minutes after liftoff. At age 90, Shatner became the oldest person to travel to space. His flight came 52 years after StarTrek TV series was canceled.

At age 90, the Star Trek actor is poised to become the oldest person ever to visit space. "It's never too late to experience new things," Shatner said on Monday.

In April, NASA chose Elon Musk's SpaceX to receive a highly sought-after $2.9 billion contract. It would involve the first spacecraft to land humans on the moon since 1972.

Blue Origin is asking NASA to reconsider selecting the aerospace company to build a new lander for future human missions to the moon. The company is offering billions of dollars in incentives if selected.

The Amazon founder became the second billionaire this month to reach the edge of space — following Richard Branson, who rocketed there aboard a vessel made by his company Virgin Galactic.