The test was conducted at Blue Origin's West Texas launch site, which is located near Van Horn, Texas, in Culberson County.
The test saw a simulated propulsion module fire a pusher-escape motor, which launched a full-scale suborbital crew capsule
The capsule traveled to a height of 2,307 feet (703.2 meters) before descending by parachute to a soft landing at a downrange distance of 1,630 feet (496.8 meters).
According to the NASA article Blue Origin Completes Pad Escape Test, "The test was part of Blue Origin's work supporting its funded Space Act Agreement with NASA during Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2)."
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See the video, shown above, of the launch at YouTube's "Blue Origin Launch Escape Test" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuR6sDMAdXs)
It's caption states, "Video of Blue Origin's successful test flight of its launch pad escape system. Here the Blue Origin suborbital Crew Capsule is seen engaging its usher escape motor and entering into thrust vector control to get away from the launch pad, a demo meant to simulate how Blue Origin would protect astronauts in the event a launch faltered shortly after blast-off."
The video was originally posted by Blue Origin from the website Great Day in West Texas.
The Blue Origin press release is "Blue Origin Conducts Successful Pad Escape Test".
Bezos states, “The first test of our suborbital Crew Capsule is a big step on the way to safe, affordable space travel. This wouldn’t have been possible without NASA’s help, and the Blue Origin team worked hard and smart to design this system, build it, and pull off this test. Lots of smiles around here today. Gradatim Ferociter!”
Blue Origin intends to develop a manned orbital spacecraft and a vertical take-off/vertical landing (VTOL) launch system called New Shepard, along with its escape pod technology.
