Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin has suffered a serious setback. A minute after launch, a missile went off course over Texas on Monday. The launch abort system released the capsule from the rocket, the company said. The capsule was caught by a parachute and landed in the desert. It was a research flight with no people in the capsule. However, passengers are repeatedly flown to the edge of space with these rockets. Blue Origin did not provide details of the incident.
A little over a minute after launch, the rocket appeared to be of the type New Shepherd to get off course. “It wasn’t planned and we don’t have details yet,” said Erika Wagner, Senior Director of Emerging Space Markets, during Blue Origin’s launch livestream, “but our crew pod successfully escaped.” The mechanism by which the capsule is detached from the rocket and descends towards the ground with parachutes would also be used if it were a manned flight. According to Wagner, the aborted start showed that such flights are safe even in an unforeseen situation.
New Shepherd is a rocket designed to land upright and controlled after its flight. Since Blue Origin successfully flew Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to the edge of space with such a rocket in July 2021, there have been five more manned missions. A place in the capsule costs several hundred thousand dollars.