Jeff Bezo’s (Amazon founder) space tourist vehicle ‘New Shepard’ made a big step yesterday - a trip up to the edge of space and a vertical landing:
That thing really hurtles back to Earth - I can see why they did the separate crew module with parachutes, although that land landing must sort out any spine curves you might have. Oof.
Not really the same game as SpaceX, in that it takes about 30 times more energy to get to orbit than it takes to go up/down, but still, amazing stuff. Can’t wait for Tony Stark to now get involved and compete.