On October 23, at 11:30 ET (15:30 GMT), Blue Origin’s unmanned NS-27 mission was launched. This mission marked the debut of New Shepard’s second manned spacecraft, consisting of the first stage, Booster 5, and a crew capsule called the RSS Kármán Line.

NS-27 was unmanned, but the mission launched 12 research payloads into orbit, five in the booster and seven in the capsule. The rocket reached a maximum altitude of 101 kilometers before returning to the landing pad approximately 7 minutes and 20 seconds later.

About three minutes later, RSS Kármán Line’s new crew capsule parachuted into the West Texas desert. “Welcome home, New Shepard. “It was a great mission and a great day to watch this new vehicle go into space and back,” Blue Origin launch commentator Joel Eby said during the livestream of the mission.

Today’s mission’s payload included new navigation systems developed for New Shepard and Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, as well as two LIDAR sensors designed to operate in lunar conditions. As the name suggests, the launch of NS-27 was New Shepard’s 27th mission. Eight of the 26 flights to date have involved humans, with short trips into space for up to six people at a time.

The same New Shepard vehicle, the Booster 4/RSS First Step combination, was used in all eight manned flights. This second manned spacecraft will enable “expanded capabilities to better meet growing customer demand,” the company wrote.

Today’s launch was originally planned for October 7, but Blue Origin postponed it due to an issue with the vehicle. Another attempt six days later was thwarted by GPS trouble. “The vehicle features advanced technologies, updated coloring, and payload deployment capabilities on boosters that increase its performance and reusability,” Blue Origin said in a statement on Oct. 4.