Jeff Bezos’ space transportation company, Blue Origin, successfully launched and landed for the third time a suborbital rocket capable of carrying six passengers, taking another step on its path in developing reusable boosters.

• The New Shepard rocket and capsule blasted off from a launch site in West Texas and landed minutes later back at a landing pad.
• The capsule, which was flying autonomously, parachuted to a nearby site and was recovered.
• This flight marks the third successful launch-and-land for the rocket, with similar missions completed in January and November.

Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com Inc., recently said Blue Origin expects to begin crewed test flights of the New Shepard next year and begin flying paying passengers as early as 2018.

Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are among a handful of companies working to develop rockets that can fly themselves back to Earth so they can be refurbished and flown again, potentially slashing launch costs. For now, Blue Origin is flying suborbital rockets, which lack the speed to put spacecraft into orbit around Earth.

The New Shepard can reach an altitude of 333,000 feet, considered the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.