It was the 23ᵉ mission for the company, the first to end with a failure. It is a hard blow for the space tourism company led by the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos.
Le Monde with AFP
The launcher of the Blue Origin rocket crashed shortly after taking off on Monday, September 12, in western Texas, announced Jeff Bezos’ company, adding that the capsule had been able to separate from the rest rocket.
“Dysfunction of the launcher during the non -inhabited flight today”, announced first the company, then specifying that the capsule ejection system had worked as expected. “There were no wounded,” said Blue Origin.
A video shows, about a minute after takeoff, the capsule activate its emergency engines and eject from the main launcher at full speed, then, accompanied by parachutes, its brutal landing. The video does not show what has become of the launcher, the company writing that he “fell to the ground”, while in case of success he must come back to stand, gently.
hard blow
The capsule, not inhabited, only carried research equipment for this mission entitled “New Shepard 23”.
The American civil aviation regulator, the FAA, announced that it has blocked any new takeoff in this rocket during the investigation. “The capsule landed in safety and the launcher touched the ground in the area dedicated to the vagaries,” wrote the Federal Agency.
It was the 23ᵉ mission for the company, the first to end with a failure. It is a blow for the space tourism company led by the founder of Amazon.
Jeff Bezos himself participated in the first inhabited flight of New Shepard in July 2021. Since then, the machine has transported around thirty people, including the actor embodying the emblematic Captain Kirk of the Star Trek series, William Shatner. In early August, the company had successfully sent the first Egyptian and the first Portuguese in space, an experience of a few minutes in weightlessness.