Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin Rocket Suffers Failure Seconds Into Uncrewed Launch
Blue Origin LLC aborted a launch of its suborbital New Shepard rocket shortly after takeoff in West Texas, the first major failure for Jeff Bezos' company since transitioning to routine commercial flights.
No people were on board for Monday's flight, which was carrying a host of payloads, though a similar version of the same vehicle is used to regularly take paying customers to the edge of space and back. The US Federal Aviation Administration said it would probe the incident.
#NewShepard is on the pad going through nominal checkouts in advance of today's flight to space. The #NS23 launch window opens at 8:30 AM CDT / 13:30 UTC. The live webcast starts T-20 minutes to launch on https://t.co/7Y4TherpLr. pic.twitter.com/mfcctmUvT3
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 12, 2022
Details of the failure haven't been disclosed. Just over a minute after takeoff, the New Shepard rocket appeared to suffer an engine problem and veer off course, prompting the emergency abort system to kick in.
“This wasn't planned, and we don't have any details yet,” Erika Wagner, senior director of emerging space markets, said during Blue Origin's livestream of the launch. “But our crew capsule was able to escape successfully.”
Once the failure occurred, the capsule on top of the rocket, used to carry payloads, ignited its thrusters and quickly separated from the rocket. The capsule landed safely under parachutes. A similar abort technique would be used to save passengers in case people were flying on board the rocket during a failing launch.
“You can see how our backup safety systems kicked in today to keep our payload safe during an off-nominal situation,” Wagner said. “Safety is our highest value at Blue Origin.” Blue Origin ended the launch livestream
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
