CNN
—
A Blue Origin rocket experienced a “booster failure” Monday morning during the unmanned launch of a New Shepard rocket from West Texas, triggering an abort system that allowed the capsule to parachute to Earth.
“This was a payload mission without astronauts. The capsule escape system worked as designed,” the company said. murmured Immediately after launch failure.in follow up Tweet Late Monday, the company said the incident was the result of a “booster failure,” but that the unmanned capsule’s escape system “performed as designed.” By Monday afternoon, the company had confirmed the rocket booster had hit Earth, writing in a separate article. Tweet“Booster hit the ground. No injuries reported. All personnel accounted for.”
In a statement to CNN Business on Monday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it was overseeing an investigation into the “accident” and said no injuries or property damage had been reported.
“The anomaly that occurred triggered the capsule escape system,” the FAA statement said. “The capsule landed safely and the booster collided within the designated danger zone.”
“Before New Shepherd returns to flight, the FAA will determine whether any systems, processes or procedures related to the accident impacted public safety,” the FAA added. “This is standard practice in all accident investigations.”
A live stream of the launch showed how the crew capsule, which had no one inside at the time, was dramatically ejected from the rocket as it approached Max Q, or during flight, the airframe was exposed to the most atmospheric effects. The time of receipt was indicated. A capsule on top of the ship then parachuted back to Earth.
“It looks like there was an anomaly on today’s flight. This was unplanned and we don’t know the details yet, but the crew capsule was able to escape safely,” said the Blue Origin employee. There is Erika Wagner, Released.
According to Blue Origin, this was the first New Shepherd dedicated payload flight since August 2021 and the ninth flight for this particular vehicle.
Dubbed NS-23, the mission carried 36 payloads in two outside boosters. His 18 payloads in flight were funded by his NASA, according to Blue Origin. Among the payloads of the NS-23 mission were 9 student-developed In elementary, middle and high school, according to Blue Origin’s tweet. Other science projects included. Testing how paraffin and beeswax can be manufactured in space to create cleaner rocket motor propellants, and an artificial intelligence experiment aimed at acquiring suborbital data from multiple sensors and analyzing it in real time. Two of the payloads were set to fly outside the New Shepard booster for “ambient exposure to the space environment,” according to the company’s statement about the mission issued ahead of launch.
The private space company founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos said at 10:40 a.m. ET that it was responding to a problem at the Launch Site 1 location in West Texas this morning. I am,” he tweeted. The tweet continued: “More information coming as it becomes available.”
Blue Origin did not immediately respond to CNN Business’ request for further comment Monday morning.
