Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, plans to launch its third suborbital rocket mission from its Texas spaceport on Dec. 11.
This marks the 12th flight of the New Shepard design since its debut in 2015. The company has said it will fly humans onboard the vehicle in 2019 once its safety has been fully proven, but there are no indications that will take place during this launch. Beyond developing technology for other spacecraft under development at Blue Origin, like its New Glenn rocket or lunar lander, the New Shepard is expected to generate revenue by flying wealthy tourists to the edge of space to look down on the Earth and experience free-fall…