Blue Origin pushes back the trial of its in-flight escape space pod

Blue Origin pushes back the trial of its in-flight escape space pod: Bad weather conditions postpone New Shepard's 'toughest test yet'

Blue Origin is set to test the escape system on its New Shepard rocket

This is the second time Blue Origin has streamed a rocket launch live

The launch was scheduled to take place today, but it tweeted that weather was a 'no-go' and that the test will now be tomorrow

Published: 11:37 EST, 4 October 2016 | Updated: 11:38 EST, 4 October 2016

Like most spacecraft, Blue Origin's rocket has an escape system that can quickly propel the crew capsule to safety if a problem is detected.

But the design of New Shepard's escape capsule is unlike any seen before.

The escape system was scheduled to be put to the test today, but it has been postponed until tomorrow at 10:45 ET (15:45 BST) due to bad weather conditions.

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New Shepard's escape system was scheduled to be put to the test today, but it has been postponed until tomorrow due to bad weather conditions

Last week, Blue Origin and Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, revealed the dangerous launch would be taking place today at the firm's West Texas site.

But Blue Origin tweeted today saying: 'Weather no-go for tomorrow's New Shepard test. Webcast now Wednesday 10:45 am ET.'

During the test, the company will intentionally trigger an escape at the most stressful point of the flight.

This is when the pressure is at a maximum, and will happen about 45 seconds into the test.

Weather no-go for tomorrow’s New Shepard #InFlightEscape test. Webcast now Wednesday 10:45 am ET. #GradatimFerociter
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) October 3, 2016

The New Shepard booster that flew to space and then landed vertically in November 2015 is pictured. 'One of the fundamental tenets of Blue Origin is that the safest vehicle is one that is robust and well understood,' said Mr Bezos

BEZOS' NEW ROCKETS

Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos unveiled a new rocket earlier this month, that will launch payloads and people into orbit.

Called 'New Glenn', this launcher comes in two stages that make it larger than SpaceX's future Heavy rocket.

'New Glenn 3-stage' is 23 feet in diameter and stands 313 feet tall.

And 'New Glenn 2-stage' is also 23 feet in diameter, but measures 270 feet tall.

Each stage lifts off with 3.85 million pounds of thrust from seven BE-4 engines.

A single vacuum-optimized BE-3 engine, burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, will power New Glenn's third stage.

However, the booster and the second stage are identical in both variants.

Blue Origin plans to fly New Glen by the end of the decade from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

At the beginning of the month, Jeff Bezos wrote in a blog post, 'Our next flight is going to be dramatic, no matter how it ends.'

New Shepard is named after original Mercury Seven astronaut and first American in space Alan Shepard.

The spacecraft has two main parts: the rocket booster, and a crew capsule on top.

'The New Shepard escape motor pushes rather than pulls and is mounted underneath the capsule rather than on a tower,' Mr Bezos said.

'There is no jettison operation.

'On a nominal mission, the escape motor is not expended and can be flown again and again.'

After the pressure is at its maximum and the capsule is ejected, it is designed to use parachutes to lower itself safely to the ground.

Mr Bezos added: 'We've already tested our pusher escape system, including many ground tests and a successful pad escape test, but this upcoming flight will be our toughest test yet.'

Capsule in-flight escape testing was last done during the Apollo program in 1966, the company said.

This will be the fifth flight of New Shepard, but only the second time Blue Origin has streamed a rocket launch in real time.

Blue Origin was created by internet entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, who also created Amazon. Pictured, the part of Texas where Blue Origin is based (marked on the map)

BLUE ORIGIN AIMS FOR PASSENGER FLIGHTS IN 2018

Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin expects to begin crewed test flights of its reusable suborbital New Shepard vehicle next year and begin flying paying passengers in 2018, Bezos told reporters last week.

Bezos' remarks, made during the first ever media tour of the Blue Origin manufacturing facility, marked the first time the billionaire founder of Amazon had put a target date on the start of the commercial space flights Blue Origin is developing.

'We'll probably fly test pilots in 2017, and if we're successful then I'd imagine putting paying astronauts on in 2018,' Bezos said at the sprawling plant south of Seattle.

The company expects to build six New Shepard vehicles, which are designed to autonomously fly six passengers to more than 62 miles (100 km) above Earth, high enough to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see the planet set against the blackness of space.

It's been years in the making and now, Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has unveiled a new rocket that will launch payloads and people into orbit. The 'New Glenn' rockets are larger than SpaceX's future Heavy rockets and will fly by the end of the decade

THE WORLD WATCHED IN HORROR: SPACEX EXPLODES

This is the dramatic moment the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket suffered a catastrophic explosion on the Cape Canaveral launch pad during a routine pre-launch check on September 1.

The blast, which shook buildings and windows miles away, occurred shortly after 9am and destroyed Facebook's $200million Amos-6 satellite that was set to launch on Saturday morning aboard the reusable rocket.

Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the massive blast - which caused no injuries - is still unknown as the accident throws into question the future of his program of subcontracting his 'reusable' and 'recycled' rockets to NASA.

The satellite would have opened up free internet to more than 14 countries in Africa to serve the most populated areas more efficiently.

No additional details were provided. It wasn't clear whether the rocket caused the problem or something else on the pad. The pad is normally cleared of workers before test firings.

Dark smoke filled the overcast sky, and a half-hour later, a black cloud hung low across the eastern horizon.

It's the same kind of SpaceX rocket used to launch space station supplies for NASA.

NASA - SpaceX's major customer - said the explosion occurred at Launch Complex 40 at the Air Force station, and Kennedy emergency staff was on standby.

The initial blast sent next-door NASA employees rushing frantically outside to see what happened.

At first, it sounded like lightning, but was followed by the sounds of more explosions, then more and more.