01-12-2015 15:00

Blue Origin is one of the companies which is developing vehicles to carry cargo and people into space. Blue Origin’s spacecraft the New Shepherd took off from West Texas last Monday. Eight minutes later, it safely landed standing up.

It reached the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space which is 100 kilometres above the surface of Earth. Blue Origin designed the rocket to carry six passengers into Earth’s upper atmosphere. There, the passengers can experience weightlessness.

The New Shepherd will carry scientists who will run experiments during their few minutes of weightlessness.

Difficult words: develop (to create something new), experience (to try), weightlessness (the situation when your body is weightless – has no weight and is slowly moving in space).

You can read the original story and watch the video in the Level 3 section.