---
title: "Blue Origin Will Take Humans to the Edge of Space in 2017"
description: "Last week's landing marked the fifth successful one for Blue Origin's New Shepard booster after a suborbital flight. As a result, the company announced they're on track for flying test astronauts by the end of 2017, and commercial flights by 2018."
date: "2016-11-02"
modified: "2016-11-02"
authors:
  - name: "Jelor Gallego"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jelor-gallego"
url: "https://futurism.com/blue-origins-will-take-humans-to-the-edge-of-space-in-2017"
categories:
  - "Blue Origin"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "blue origin"
  - "jeff bezos"
  - "space tourism"
---

# Blue Origin Will Take Humans to the Edge of Space in 2017

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/A-BlueOrigin.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Blue Origin\</em\>*

It might seem as though Elon Musk and SpaceX have the market cornered on commercial space travel, but other companies are steadily coming out of the woodwork, ready to give Musk a run for his (insane amounts of) money.

Treading lightly is Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, fresh from a crash two years ago. Now, Virgin has revealed its newest rocket, SpaceShipTwo, and has been conducting [more tests](<https://futurism.com/a-second-chance-virgin-galactic-completes-first-test-flight-since-crash>) for its systems.

Perhaps even more ambitious, however, are the plans of Jeff Bezos, founder of [Blue Origin](<https://www.blueorigin.com/>). After a successful "in-flight escape test," Blue Origin President Rob Meyerson has revealed that the company plans to fly test astronauts by next year, in anticipation of full-fledged space tourists by 2018.

“We’re still on track for flying people — our test astronauts — by the end of 2017, and then starting commercial flights in 2018,” [said Meyerson.](<http://www.space.com/34383-blue-origin-launch-astronauts-2017.html>)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqUIX3Z4r3k

The New Shepard vehicle consists of a rocket and a capsule. During the test, the capsule used its escape motor to separate from the booster. Everything worked well, Meyerson said, describing it as a "picture-perfect test." The capsule came back to Earth softly under parachutes, as expected.

As a bonus (and a complete surprise) the rocket was able to land its booster, showing that it's not just SpaceX who's working on reusable rockets. Now, we wait to find out how much a ticket to space will run us.