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Blue Origin New Shepard Team Awarded the 2016 Robert J. Collier Trophy

Members of the aerospace community gathered together on June 16, 2017 in Arlington, Virginia to award the Robert J. Collier Trophy to the Blue Origin New Shepard Team for “… successfully demonstrating rocket booster reusability with the New Shepard human spaceflight vehicle through five successful test flights of a single booster and engine, all of which performed powered vertical landings on Earth.”

Administered by the National Aeronautic Association and displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, the Collier Trophy is awarded annually “…for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America” in the preceding year. At seven and a half feet tall and over 500 pounds, the trophy represents a timeline of air and space achievements marking major events in the history of flight.

The highlight of the evening was the 102nd presentation of the Collier Trophy to Jeff Bezos, Founder of Blue Origin. “Winning the Collier Trophy is incredibly emotional for me and the whole Blue Origin team,” Bezos said in March when the award was announced. “Everyone on the team has given so much to get to this point, and we are deeply encouraged by this recognition. We will never stop working to drive down the cost of getting to space.”

Congratulations to the Blue Origin New Shepard team for your extraordinary accomplishment.