A New Shepard capsule, built and flown by Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin, returned from a fifth foray beyond the atmosphere on Sunday, this time sans one parachute to test how well the spacecraft would fly if a similar situation occurred during an operational mission. <a href="http://www.seeker.com/inside-jeff-bezos-secret-blue-origin-rocket-factory-1771050681.html">RELATED: Inside Jeff Bezos' Secret Blue Origin Rocket Factory</a> The capsule's booster rocket, making its fourth flight, lifted off from Blue's West Texas desert launch site at 10:36 a.m. EDT, a live webcast showed. The first New Shepard rocket was lost during the debut test flight in April 2015, though the capsule landed safely. Less than three minutes after launch, the rocket, powered by a BE-3 engine burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, separated from the capsule at an altitude of about 200,000 feet. Both the booster and the capsule continued soaring toward space, flying in tandem and reaching a peak altitude of 331,501 feet about four minutes after blastoff. At 10:44 a.m. EDT, the rocket landed itself back in West Texas, with the capsule making a parachute landing a minute later. <a href="http://www.seeker.com/how-to-fly-rockets-back-to-earth-1769981127.html">RELATED: How to Fly Rockets Back to Earth</a> With just two of its three initial parachutes deployed, the capsule oscillated as it descended. The motion was dampened out when the capsule's two main parachutes deployed. "That was as good as we could have hoped for," said mission commentator Geoff Huntington, a Blue Origin engineer. Over the next several months, Blue Origin plans more aggressive test to assess how the system handles potential equipment failures and emergency scenarios. Blue Origin expects to begin flying New Shepard with test pilots aboard in another year or two, with passenger commercial service to follow. <a href="http://www.seeker.com/bezos-rocket-launches-lands-for-third-time-1771147935.html">RELATED: Bezos Rocket Launches, Lands for Third Time</a> Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which is testing an air-launched suborbital spaceship called SpaceShipTwo, sent a message of support to Bezos and Blue Origin before Sunday's flight. "We'll be cheering for you," Virgin Galactic wrote on Twitter. "Space needs all of us!" Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard program is a steppingstone toward orbital space flight which Blue Origin hopes to begin before 2020. WATCH VIDEO: How Loud are Rocket Launches?

A New Shepard capsule, built and flown by Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin, returned from a fifth foray beyond the atmosphere on Sunday, this time sans one parachute to test how well the spacecraft would fly if a similar situation occurred during an operational mission.

<a href="http://www.seeker.com/inside-jeff-bezos-secret-blue-origin-rocket-factory-1771050681.html">RELATED: Inside Jeff Bezos' Secret Blue Origin Rocket Factory</a>

The capsule's booster rocket, making its fourth flight, lifted off from Blue's West Texas desert launch site at 10:36 a.m. EDT, a live webcast showed. The first New Shepard rocket was lost during the debut test flight in April 2015, though the capsule landed safely.

Less than three minutes after launch, the rocket, powered by a BE-3 engine burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, separated from the capsule at an altitude of about 200,000 feet. Both the booster and the capsule continued soaring toward space, flying in tandem and reaching a peak altitude of 331,501 feet about four minutes after blastoff.

At 10:44 a.m. EDT, the rocket landed itself back in West Texas, with the capsule making a parachute landing a minute later.

<a href="http://www.seeker.com/how-to-fly-rockets-back-to-earth-1769981127.html">RELATED: How to Fly Rockets Back to Earth</a>

With just two of its three initial parachutes deployed, the capsule oscillated as it descended. The motion was dampened out when the capsule's two main parachutes deployed.

"That was as good as we could have hoped for," said mission commentator Geoff Huntington, a Blue Origin engineer.

Over the next several months, Blue Origin plans more aggressive test to assess how the system handles potential equipment failures and emergency scenarios.

Blue Origin expects to begin flying New Shepard with test pilots aboard in another year or two, with passenger commercial service to follow.

<a href="http://www.seeker.com/bezos-rocket-launches-lands-for-third-time-1771147935.html">RELATED: Bezos Rocket Launches, Lands for Third Time</a>

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which is testing an air-launched suborbital spaceship called SpaceShipTwo, sent a message of support to Bezos and Blue Origin before Sunday's flight.

"We'll be cheering for you," Virgin Galactic wrote on Twitter. "Space needs all of us!"

Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard program is a steppingstone toward orbital space flight which Blue Origin hopes to begin before 2020.

WATCH VIDEO: How Loud are Rocket Launches?

A New Shepard capsule, built and flown by Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin, returned from a fifth foray beyond the atmosphere on Sunday, this time sans one parachute to test how well the spacecraft would fly if a similar situation occurred during an operational mission.<a href="http://www.seeker.com/inside-jeff-bezos-secret-blue-origin-rocket-factory-1771050681.html">RELATED: Inside Jeff Bezos' Secret Blue Origin Rocket Factory</a>The capsule's booster rocket, making its fourth flight, lifted off from Blue's West Texas desert launch site at 10:36 a.m. EDT, a live webcast showed. The first New Shepard rocket was lost during the debut test flight in April 2015, though the capsule landed safely.Less than three minutes after launch, the rocket, powered by a BE-3 engine burning liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, separated from the capsule at an altitude of about 200,000 feet. Both the booster and the capsule continued soaring toward space, flying in tandem and reaching a peak altitude of 331,501 feet about four minutes after blastoff.At 10:44 a.m. EDT, the rocket landed itself back in West Texas, with the capsule making a parachute landing a minute later.<a href="http://www.seeker.com/how-to-fly-rockets-back-to-earth-1769981127.html">RELATED: How to Fly Rockets Back to Earth</a>With just two of its three initial parachutes deployed, the capsule oscillated as it descended. The motion was dampened out when the capsule's two main parachutes deployed."That was as good as we could have hoped for," said mission commentator Geoff Huntington, a Blue Origin engineer.Over the next several months, Blue Origin plans more aggressive test to assess how the system handles potential equipment failures and emergency scenarios.Blue Origin expects to begin flying New Shepard with test pilots aboard in another year or two, with passenger commercial service to follow.<a href="http://www.seeker.com/bezos-rocket-launches-lands-for-third-time-1771147935.html">RELATED: Bezos Rocket Launches, Lands for Third Time</a>Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which is testing an air-launched suborbital spaceship called SpaceShipTwo, sent a message of support to Bezos and Blue Origin before Sunday's flight."We'll be cheering for you," Virgin Galactic wrote on Twitter. "Space needs all of us!"Blue Origin's suborbital New Shepard program is a steppingstone toward orbital space flight which Blue Origin hopes to begin before 2020.WATCH VIDEO: How Loud are Rocket Launches?

Rocket launches can be so loud that scientists have to make sure their sound waves don't knock over nearby buildings. Just like we need light in order to see an object, to hear something, the sound waves need to travel through a medium, which usually is air. Vibrating air molecules pass the sound along, which creates a pressure wave, which is picked up by sensors located deep in our inner ears.

The louder the sound is, the more intense the pressure of the wave it creates. Sound it measured in decibels (dB), which is a logarithmic unit used to express the ratio of a physical quantity like power or intensity. Because the relationship is logarithmic - not linear -- an increase in 10 dB equals an increase in power by a factor of 10.

A normal conversation registers at about 65 decibels. Sounds at 90-95 decibels are where humans start to experience hearing loss from sustained exposure. We start to experience pain at 125 decibels and louder. 140 decibels and up can quickly cause irreversible ear damage. One of the loudest sounds ever recorded was NASA's Saturn V rocket, which registered 204 decibels.

However, sound doesn't just have the potential to damage our hearing: powerful sound waves can cause damage to physical structures, including the very rocket producing the deafening sound. For NASA's next-generation heavy-lift rocket, the SLS, they built a 5% scale model to study the acoustics and try to predict how loud (and potentially damaging to nearby structures) the full-size rocket will be.

So, what was the loudest sound you've ever heard? Have you ever been to a space shuttle launch? As always, we welcome you to share your experiences with us in the comments section below.

____________________ 

Follow Amy on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/astVintageSpace" target="_blank">@astVintageSpace</a> 
Check out Amy's YouTube channel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/vintagespace" target="_blank">Vintage Space</a> 

Read More: 
<a href="http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/sound/u11l1c.cfm" target="_blank">Sound is a Pressure Wave</a> (via Physics Classroom) 
"Sound is a mechanical wave that results from the back and forth vibration of the particles of the medium through which the sound wave is moving."

<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/sls/smat-acoustic-testing.html#.VCmrbSldVoc" target="_blank">NASA Turns Down the Volume on Rocket Noise Through SLS Scale Model Acoustic Testing</a> (via NASA) 
"NASA engineers recently went on an auricle ride as a scale model of the Space Launch System (SLS), including solid rocket motors, was fired -- giving an 'earful' of information about how low- and high-frequency sound waves will affect the rocket on the launch pad."

<a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/nasas-next-rocket-is-so-big-the-sound-of-it-launching-could-damage-buildings" target="_blank">NASA's Next Rocket Is So Big, the Sound of It Launching Could Damage Buildings</a> (via VICE) 
"Earlier this summer, NASA took a 'sound ride' on a small-scale SLS rocket, which gave engineers an idea of how the acoustics of NASA's massive new launch platform will work."

Watch More: 
<a href="https://testtube.com/dnews/how-scientists-can-slow-down-time" target="_blank">How Scientists Slowed Down Time</a> 

<a href="http://testtube.com/dnews/can-you-hear-sound-in-space" target="_blank">Can You Hear Sound in Space?</a>

____________________ 
DNews is dedicated to satisfying your curiosity and to bringing you mind-bending stories & perspectives you won't find anywhere else! New videos twice daily.

How Loud Are Rocket Launches?

Space & Innovation

Blue Origin Capsule Lands Safely, Sans One Parachute

A New Shepard capsule, built and flown by Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin, returned from a fifth foray beyond the atmosphere on Sunday, this time sans one parachute to test how well the spacecraft would fly if a similar situation occurred during an operational mission.

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Blue Origin Capsule Lands Safely, Sans One Parachute

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