New Shepard: Bezos claims success on second spaceship flight

The Amazon.com entrepreneur Jeff Bezos has claimed success on the second flight of his New Shepard spaceship.

Intended eventually to carry people just above the atmosphere, the re-usable vehicle launched from west Texas on Monday with no-one aboard.

Both parts of New Shepard - the capsule and its propulsion unit - landed safely, Mr Bezos' company said.

On the maiden outing in April, the propulsion module was lost on the way down because of a hydraulic failure.

True to his way of working, the US billionaire gave no specific notice of the flight, stating last week only that another mission would occur "very soon".

This means all the video and information about the event have come out directly from Mr Bezos' space operation, Blue Origin.