Blue Origin’s fourth flight landed successfully in March in
west Texas after taking six passengers for a 10-minute journey to the edge of
space.
The company’s suborbital joyride lasts about 10 minutes from
liftoff to touchdown, hits an altitude of about 350,000 feet (106 km), treating
passengers to a few moments of weightlessness before a descent back to Earth
for a parachute landing.
Blue Origin said on Wednesday tests showed one of the
rocket’s back-up systems did not meet performance expectations and it was
delaying the mission.
A handful of companies including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and
Richard Branson-founded Virgin Galactic are striving to make space travel a
reality.