Flight Three: Pushing the Envelope (2016)

The reusable rocket "New Shepard" flew again on April 2, 2016 reaching an apogee of 339,178 feet. It was the third flight with reused hardware. Pushing the envelope on this flight, we restarted the engine for the propulsive landing only 3,600 feet above the ground, requiring the BE-3 engine to start fast and ramp to high thrust fast. It created a sonic boom throughout the valley and touched down gently on the recovery pad. This was not only a wonderful engineering accomplishment, but a beautiful sight to see.