Blue Origin's secrecy clouds the future of private sector spaceflight

On Saturday, future space tourists and members of the public got to see a rocket test happen… on Twitter.

Blue Origin — the traditionally tight-lipped spaceflight company backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos — announced on Friday that they would launch the third test of a rocket that has flown to suborbital space twice before. 

On Saturday, instead of sending out a video and photos of the launch and reusable rocket test one day after it flew as they had before, Bezos live-tweeted the flight and landing, without photos or video footage. 

Some have hailed this burgeoning transparency as a signal that Blue Origin is starting to feel more confident about their rockets and capsules. Read more…