New Shepard: first vertical landing of a rocket after reaching space
New Shepard: primer aterrizaje vertical de un cohete tras llegar al espacio
- Date
- 23 de noviembre de 2015 · confidence high
- Place
- Van Horn, Texas, United States
- Credited to
- Blue Origin (Jeff Bezos)
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The suborbital New Shepard rocket rose above 100 km, separated from its capsule and landed vertically on its own hydrogen and oxygen engine. It was the first booster to do so, a month before Falcon 9's orbital recovery.
'First' depends on the definition: New Shepard was suborbital and Falcon 9 was the first orbital booster recovered (21 December 2015). DC-X (1993) landed vertically but never reached space.
What it led to
- reuse of the same rocket in 2016 (five flights)
- crewed suborbital tourist flights since 2021
- competition with SpaceX over reuse