Jeff Bezos’ rocket company gave NASA a brief taste of the moon’s gravity Tuesday, without straying too far from home.
Blue Origin launched the 29 lunar technology experiments to the edge of space from West Texas. Plans called for creating a few minutes of artificial lunar gravity by repeatedly spinning the capsule.
It was Blue Origin’s first attempt at mimicking lunar gravity, which is one-sixth that of Earth.
NASA said it wants to test equipment on short spaceflights to weed out any problems before sending them to the moon. The experiments — mainly sponsored by NASA — included ways to keep lunar dust off future moonwalkers’ spacesuits and tools.