Jeff Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin LLC, has faced its first launch failure. The launch of Blue Origin's New Shepherd rocket was promptly aborted after its takeoff in West Texas on Monday. There were no passengers aboard the rocket, only payloads.
The problem occurred as the rocket was traveling nearly 700 mph at an altitude of about 28,000 feet and the capsule catapulted off the rocket, CNBC reports. The rocket experienced a "booster failure" triggering the abort system and allowing the capsule to parachute to Earth.
The Federal Aviation Administration told CNN Business, "The anomaly that occurred triggered the capsule escape system," further explaining, "the capsule landed safely and the booster impacted within the designated hazard area."
While this flight had no passengers, a similar version of the same vehicle was used to take paying customers to the edge of space and back as recently as August. This was the ninth flight for this particular rocket.
The FAA will need to investigate whether any system or procedure relating to the failure risked public safety before the New Shepherd can fly again. "This is standard practice for all mishap investigations," the agency stated.