Friday, January 05, 2007

AMAZON.COM HEAD HAS OWN SPACESHIP

Seriously Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos has a friggen spaceship--does he know something we don't? Regardless, it's pretty incredible to see this thing. I mean, look at that thing! It looks like a horribly mutated chicken egg! Is Bezos hoping this ship will inspire people to want to go into space? Man, I hope not. Enough of my silly ranting, you want to know more about the ship, dubbed the "New Shepard." I'm guessing it's named after Alan Shepard who was the first American in space. Anyway, so the thing really flies--it hasn't made it into space yet, but according to [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6230245.stm|a January 4, 2007 article] it has reached the lofty heights of 85 meters (285 ft) which is a nice start, but hardly a space shot. Don't get me wrong, I will be the first in line to buy a ticket on this thing if Bezos ever gets it going and cheap enough for me to afford. Here's more from the above-linked article at http://News.BBC.co.uk:
The billionaire founder of amazon.com has released the first images of the launch of a private spacecraft that could bring space travel to the masses. A video of the cone-shaped Goddard vehicle shows it climbing to about 85m (285ft) before returning back to Earth. The test launch took place in November 2006 in a remote part of Texas, but details have only now been released. The images mark the first time Jeff Bezos has broken his silence on the work of his space company, Blue Origin. Writing on the company's website, Mr Bezos said: "We're working, patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go; and so that we humans can better continue exploring the Solar System."
Actually, that's pretty damn cool. The US government had better hurry up and militarize space before we civilians get up their first and weaponize it first! Head on over to the ship's official website at BlueOrigin.Com. You can check out a crappy Windows Media clip of the launch or scroll down to watch a couple clips of it from Video.Google.Com. OH and they're hiring! From the very first paragraph on the BO website:
Blue Origin wants you! Actually, Blue Origin needs you and wants to hire you … assuming you’re a hard working, technically gifted, team-oriented, experienced aerospace engineer or engineering leader. If you might be interested in joining us, please keep reading.
Makes me wish I was an engineer. Here are those videos: The above almost looks fake. The following was shot by an onboard camera: This last one is a wider, static shot of the NS taking off and landing: Check out more Google vids of the New Shepard [http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=bezos+spaceship|here].

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