a space company  owned by amazoncom founder jeff bezos has finished work on a  rocket engine for a suborbital spaceship called blue origin, the firm expects to begin  flight tests this year the so called new shepard spaceship is designed to fly three  people and/or a mix of passengers and payloads to altitudes  about 62 miles (100 km) above earth scroll down for video  the new shepard system will take astronauts to space on suborbital journeys, and the firm is also developing an orbital craft, shown here it will launch from blue  origin's west texas facility near van horn, texas, southeast of  el paso testing and development of the rocket engine, called be 3,  has been completed, the last major milestone before the liquid  oxygen  and liquid hydrogen fueled motor is attached to the new  shepard capsule for flight, blue origin president rob meyerson  told reporters on a conference call privately owned blue origin has not started selling tickets  for flights on new shepard or released pricing information 'the engine is ready for flight  and ready for other  commercial users,' meyerson said he declined to be more  specific about when new shepard would fly, except to say 'soon' the new shepard system will take astronauts to space on suborbital journeys the new shepard vehicle includes a crew capsule carrying three or more astronauts atop a separate rocket powered propulsion module, launched from the firm's west texas launch site following liftoff, the combined vehicles accelerate for approximately two and a half minutes the propulsion module then shuts off its rocket engines and separates from the crew capsule the propulsion module will finish its flight, descend to earth, and autonomously perform a rocket powered vertical landing the crew capsule will go on to coast to the edge of space, providing astronauts with a view to the curvature of the earth and the beauty of our planet after descent and reentry into earth’s atmosphere, the crew capsule will land under parachutes near the launch site in addition, the new shepard vehicle will provide opportunities for researchers to fly experiments into space and a microgravity environment blue origin's orbital reusable booster system  the capsule will fly dozens of times unmanned before the  test flights include pilots, meyerson added when finished, the new shepard vehicle includes a crew capsule carrying three or more astronauts atop a separate rocket powered propulsion module, launched from the firm's west texas launch site following liftoff, the combined vehicles accelerate for approximately two and a half minutes the propulsion module then shuts off its rocket engines and separates from the crew capsule the propulsion module will finish its flight, descend to earth, and autonomously perform a rocket powered vertical landing the crew capsule will go on to coast to the edge of space, providing astronauts with a view to the curvature of the earth and the beauty of our planet after descent and reentry into earth’s atmosphere, the crew capsule will land under parachutes near the launch site blue origin is among a handful of companies planning to  offer commercial spaceflight services new shepard is a  suborbital system, like virgin galactic's spaceshiptwo, a  six passenger, two pilot spaceplane that is expected to resume  test flights later this year following a fatal accident in  mojave, california, on oct 31, 2014 another company, privately owned xcor aerospace, is working  on a two seater spaceplane called lynx that also is slated to  debut this year, founder and chief technology officer jeff  greason said other companies, including space exploration technologies,  or spacex, and boeing, are skipping suborbital  spaceflight and developing systems to carry people into orbit blue origin intends to parlay its suborbital new shepard  vehicle into an orbital launch system, expected to begin flying  later this decade that vehicle will be powered by a liquefied  natural gas motor, called the be 4, that is being developed with  united launch alliance, a partnership of lockheed martin corp  and boeing the recently completed be 3 engine also will be modified to  serve as an upper stage motor to fly satellites into orbit,  meyerson said
about 62 miles 100 km earth
new shepard spaceship is designed to fly three people . will reach altitudes about 62 miles (100 km) above earth . firm expected to sell tourist tickets for its spacecraft 