New Shepard

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space transportation company, Blue Origin, successfully launched and landed a suborbital rocket for a second time, a key step in its quest to develop reusable boosters, the company said on Friday.

The New Shepard rocket and capsule, which is designed to carry six passengers, blasted off from a launch site in West Texas at 11.22am CST (1722 GMT) and landed itself minutes later back on the launch pad, the company said in a statement.