Amazon beats Tesla...
 

Billionaire Jeff Bezo's other company, Blue Origin successfully launched their New Shepard space craft into sub-orbital space (over 100 kilometers), safely land its capsule and its BE-3 rocket accomplished a successful & soft vertical landing in West Texas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pillaOxGCo

Elon Musk's other company, SpaceX has not done this yet with its Falcon 9 reusable first stage rocket, aiming for and softly landing on a barge.

Very cool and all...

but could they make it look any more like a penis? I mean, rockets all look phallic, but come on. This video could have been straight out of an Austin Powers flick.

Very impressive.

The landing looked to be perfectly timed. I wonder if it was using 100% engine thrust to brake, or if there was a margin of power left just in case it came in too hot.

Always wondered why both New Shepard and Falcon 9 don't use simple, reliable, inexpensive and lightweight drogue (big enough to slow down but small enough not to drift off course) chutes to help with descent stability and control of their re-useable rockets. If military parachute cargo drops and expert skydivers can pinpoint their landings consistently, why can't they apply their control expertise to their return systems. Maybe adding another 'failure' complexity.

Parachute airdrop-delivery systems use GPS steering, but cannot provide 100% control (no thrust or propulsion), so 100% landing accuracy is NOT fully achievable. They were tested at YPG back in the 1980's with varable results.

Because both Musk and Bezos read a lot of '50s SF growing up? Parachutes just aren't cool.

And of course landing a reusable rocket is something that NASA first did back in 1981.

Was thinking of deceleration drogues at mid-low range descent elevations, then totally released, before using the low level but more controllable retro engines.

Not exactly but analogous, kinda dramatic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uGfOppQD_g

..or deployable control fins?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgDsbMl9Z2s

The shot was straight up and down again to the launch point, similar to that test to a few hundred meters Falcon 9 did a year ago. The Falcon 9 near-misses were hundreds of miles down range. It's landing legs incorporate air brakes.

But, Hey! The race is on.

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The Falcon 9 is a lot taller and heavier, making it far more difficult to land.