Q&A with Alain Charmeau, CEO of Airbus Safran Launchers

Blue Origin’s third New Shepard suborbital booster lifted off on its first brief up-and-down test flight Tuesday, soaring to an altitude of 322,000 feet over West Texas to prove out the rocket and its automated crew capsule, which flew with a dummy dubbed “Mannequin Skywalker” to simulate the conditions passengers riding the rocket will one day experience.

Peter Beck, the founder and chief executive of Rocket Lab, recently discussed the outcome of the company’s first attempted orbital test flight and plans for future missions.

These photos of Thursday evening’s successful relaunch of a Falcon 9 rocket booster, which returned to Earth after a maiden mission last year, were taken at the Kennedy Space Center press site about 3.1 miles from launch pad 39A.