As a booster began to fail, emergency systems took over and ejected the unmanned capsule on a Blue Origin flight. Carrying only scientific equipment, the eject system worked; the capsule separated and opened its parachutes. The same sorts of boosters and capsules are also used for manned flights.
This is the New Shepard program's first anomaly since its debut flight on April 29, 2015. That mission saw a nominal flight, and the spacecraft safely landed in West Texas. But the booster crash-landed. Since then, Blue Origin has accomplished 20 successful spaceflights and landings in a row, bringing both its boosters and spacecraft back safely.
Included among that tally are six human spaceflights, dating to July 20, 2021, and the inaugural spaceflight that carried Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. The company had already completed three human spaceflights this year ahead of Monday's anomaly, with plans for as many as three more before the end of the year. It now seems likely that the New Shepard program will be sidelined for some time as the booster anomaly is diagnosed, fixed, and tested.
Blue Origin has designated different but similar spacecraft to fly suborbital science missions and human spaceflights. The RSS H. G. Wells made Monday's flight. The company has used a newer spacecraft modified for passengers, the RSS First Step, for human flights.
Image: screen grab
