- A rocket from Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin failed mid-flight shortly after liftoff.
- The rocket’s cargo capsule parachuted to safety before falling into the Texas desert.
- It was the first New Shepard launch with no humans aboard in more than a year.
According to the company and a live video feed of the mission, a rocket from Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin failed mid-flight shortly after liftoff on Monday, aborting its cargo capsule to safety before falling into the Texas desert.
As the 23rd New Shepard mission for Blue Origin, the rocket blasted off from the company’s West Texas launch facility on Monday morning.
The mission’s objective was to carry NASA-funded experiments and other payloads to the edge of space so they could float for a few minutes in microgravity.
However, less than a minute after liftoff, at a height of around 8.05.km (5.05 miles), the New Shepard booster’s engines flared abruptly.
Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed. pic.twitter.com/xFDsUMONTh
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 12, 2022
Virtually instantaneous activation of the capsule’s abort motor system propelled the craft away from the malfunctioning rocket before it parachuted back to land unharmed.
The US Federal Aviation Administration, which is in charge of ensuring the safety of launch sites, claims that the booster crashed within a defined hazard region.
Until the FAA approves the findings of a company-led inquiry into the incident, Blue Origin’s fleet of New Shepard rockets is grounded, the agency added.
Following the disaster, Blue Origin tweeted, “During today’s flight, the capsule escape system successfully separated the capsule from the booster.”
“The booster impacted the ground. There are no reported injuries; all personnel have been accounted for.”
The NS-23 mission, the fourth of 2022, was the first New Shepard launch with no humans aboard in more than a year.
Blue Origin uses the rocket-capsule technology to transport paying customers into suborbital space for a brief period of time in microgravity before their capsule descends to land using a parachute.
To date, 31 individuals have been transported in this manner.
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who founded Blue Origin in 2000, was one among the first people to board New Shepard on its initial crewed trip in 2021.
It was unclear right away whether the eight previous flights of the rocket that crashed on Monday involved any human beings.
Prior to its first crewed flight, Blue Origin completed 15 flights of New Shepard.
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