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The Dragon Launch Escape System was successfully tested in May last year.

It is Blue Origin who are catching up.

Dragon hasn't done an in-flight test with a firing booster, though. They're each ahead and behind the other in different ways. What SpaceX is doing is for the most part more challenging, but I don't mind some competitiveness if it gets everyone pushing for greatness.

But not on a rocket that flew five times.

This is a much simpler rocket than the Falcon 9. For one, it's suborbital. Its flights are so much simpler than the full orbital injections and hypersonic reentries the Falcon flies.

A quick list of things Blue Origin hasn't done yet:

- Sent anything to orbit (much less paying cargo)

- Sent anything to geosyncronous orbit

- Landed a ship coming back from orbit

- Docked with the ISS

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