A Blue Origin rocket launcher crashed shortly after takeoff in West Texas on Monday, Jeff Bezos’ company said, causing the capsule to separate from the rest of the rocket.
The company first announced a “launcher malfunction on the unmanned aircraft today,” then added that the capsule’s ejection system worked as expected.
“There were no injuries,” Blue Origin said.
AFP
A minute after takeoff, the capsule activates its emergency engines, ejects from the main launcher at full speed, deploying parachutes, and video shows its hard landing.
The video doesn’t show what happened to the launcher, the company writes that he “fell to the ground,” but if successful he should stand up straight and smooth.
The capsule, unmanned, carried only research equipment for the mission, named “New Shepherd 23”.
The American civil aviation regulator, the FAA, has announced that it has suspended further takeoff of the rocket while an investigation continues.
“The capsule landed safely and the launcher touched down in the danger zone,” the agency wrote.
Listen to the Know It All segment In 24 Minutes with Alexandre Moranville-Ouellet on QUB Radio:
This was the company’s 23rd mission, the first to fail. This is a major blow to the space tourism company led by the founder of Amazon.
Jeff Bezos himself participated in the first manned flight of the New Shepard in July 2021. Since then, the machine has transported nearly thirty people, including actor William Shatner, who plays the iconic Captain Kirk for the Star Trek series.
In early August, the company successfully sent the first Egyptian and the first Portuguese into space, experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness.
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