The uncrewed flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital rocket ended in failure after liftoff on Monday. The capsule survived an apparent booster malfunction and the launch escape system worked as it was supposed to. The rocket went off without a hitch at 10:27 a.m. There is an hour and a half later. The live feed showed the rocket during MaxQ, the moment of maximum aerodynamic stress for a rocket, but the flight deteriorated quickly after that. The camera switched to a close up view of the capsule, which ejected from the booster as a result of the anomaly, as Blue Origin probably doesn't want us watching its booster rockets explode mid-flight. The rocket was traveling in excess of 700 miles per hour and was 29,000 feet above the ground when the booster failed. Blue Origin said they were responding to an issue at their launch site one location. The capsule escape system worked as intended. I contacted Blue Origin to find out more about the booster's location. As information becomes available, Blue Origin will provide updates on its social media accounts. The launch of Blue Origin's mission was delayed due to bad weather. The Krmn Line is the official point of separation between Earth and outer space. The Jeff Bezos-led company has flown 31 humans to space and performed six crewed flights, but that mission involved a different booster and capsule than the ones used today.
More than half of the 36 payloads that New Shepard was to carry belonged to NASA. The successful parachute-assisted landing of the capsule suggests these items survived the accident. The two payloads that did not survive were attached to the booster and intended to measure the space environment outside the rocket. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research are two of the organizations involved in NS-23.
RSS H.G. Wells is only used for uncrewed missions and is dedicated to sending cargo on suborbital flights. The booster was used eight times before it was launched.
The main engine of the booster was supposed to start firing at 2:25PM, but it didn't start until 35 seconds later. The capsule would descend with the help of a parachute and the booster would attempt a vertical landing. There was an art piece called Suborbital Triptych that was carried on the last flight of tail 3.
New Shepard, an otherwise reliable rocket, is the subject of today's incident. It is likely that New Shepard will be grounded until more is known about the cause of the anomalies. Prospective space tourists might think twice about riding on a New Shepard rocket now that the rocket's launch escape system appears to have failed. Until Blue Origin has a better grip, that's all.
Liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen are used for propellant in New Shepard, the same mixture that is causing problems with the SLS rocket. The first mission of the Artemis Moon program is expected to launch in September.
There are flights allowed to resume after the FAA probes.
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