Saving the capsule was the only goal of the test and the survival of the Blue Shepherd rocket, making its fifth flight, served as a bonus for Blue Origin.
Though he said he envisions humans living in a large colony on Mars, he added that the key will be getting the cost down low enough to attract willing volunteers.
The company has not yet announced a date for the start of passenger flights but is selling tickets for a ride aboard SpaceShipTwo at $250,000 a seat. Commercial service is not expected to debut before 2017.
The Boeing Co. marked its centennial on Friday with plans to sharpen its focus on innovation, including ambitious projects for supersonic commercial flight and a rocket that could carry humans to other planets.
A new study says the planet's water might not be drinkable. Worse, it might not even exist. A team of scientists from the University of Arizona looked more closely into those dark streaks called "recurrent slope linae" or RSL in an effort to figure out their origin.
Allen's move coincides with a surge of new businesses planning to sell internet access, Earth imagery, climate data and other services from networks of hundreds of satellites in low-altitude orbits around Earth.
Got a burning out-of-this-world question? It's not too late to submit it to NASA. You never know, the billionaire Facebook founder might ask it for you.