NEW YORK (AP) – A private space company announced Tuesday that it had landed a rocket upright and gently enough to be used again, a milestone in commercial aeronautics.
Reusing rockets, rather than discarding them, would be a big step toward making space flight less expensive.
The achievement produced “the rarest of beasts: a used rocket,” Jeff Bezos, founder of the company Blue Origin, said in a statement.
Another private company, SpaceX, has tried to land boosters upright on a barge in the ocean but so far has failed.
Blue Origin said the unmanned flight took place Monday morning at its site in Van Horn in West Texas. The secretive company did not invite reporters to attend. Its first test flight happened in April.