Blue Origin suffered a big blow today.
The New Shepard capsule exploded in the air as it was thrown away from the booster, which did not appear to survive the experience.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued an official statement about the incident.
Given the company's use of the same platform to launch a number of high-profile celebrities, the scrutiny is likely to draw unwanted attention.
While the New Shepard capsule managed to land "safely and the booster impacted within the designated hazard area," the regulators will now try to determine whether the company will have to make any changes to its process or procedure.
We've already seen this happen with Blue Origin competitor Virgin Galactic.
The poor Blue Origin can't catch a break.
It's not clear what happened during the accident. We don't know what happened in the first place.
The company only revealed that the capsule escape system separated from the booster, and that the booster hit the ground.
More could've went wrong. According to Ars Technica, Blue Origin has pulled off 20 launches in a row.
Despite the capsule landing back on the ground thanks to its parachutes, space tourists on board the spaceship would have experienced some terrifying force as they were launched away from the booster.
If it ever becomes public, it would be interesting to know the condition of the capsule's contents.
The spaceship makes a dramatic escape after Blue Origin's rocket explodes.
The Blue Origin rocket exploded after launch.
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