http://english.people.com.cn/200701/05/eng20070105_338571.htmlSource:Xinhua/Agencies
Amazon.com's founder, billionaire Jeff Bezos unveiled Thursday his prototype of private reusable spacecraft by posting photos and videos on the company's Web site of a test launch of it on Nov. 13, 2006, east of E1 Paso, Texas.
Bezos has been working on the project Blue Origin since 2000, during which time he has kept silent about his operation in the remote section of West Texas.
"We're working, patiently and step by step, to lower the cost of space flight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system," Bezos said on the Web page of his space venture, "Accomplishing this mission will take a long time, and we're working on it methodically."
Blue Origin is a project to design a new type of spacecraft called the New Shepard. The craft aims to blast three passengers and one crewmember almost 100 km into the air, giving them spectacular views and the right to brag that they have visited outer space.
The craft is designed to take off and land vertically, using downward-facing thrusters both to blast the one-piece vehicle into the air and to slow its descent as it returns to Earth. It is designed to blast into the air using a mix of 90 percent hydrogen peroxide and 10 percent kerosene, and its thrusters are switched off in mid-flight, giving it the high, narrow trajectory of a bullet fired almost directly upwards into the air.
The development vehicle Goddard presumably is named for Robert Goddard, considered the father of modern rocket propulsion for building and successfully testing in 1926 the first rocket using liquid fuel.
According to the planning application to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the aim is to run commercial trips by 2010.
Bezos said he was looking for 15 staff to help to develop the spacecraft, including an experienced aerospace engineer, a propulsion engineer and turbomachinery engineers.
