Blue Origin experienced a rare mid-flight rocket failure. No one on the ground was hurt when the plane fell.
The sub-orbital New Shepard rocket, which has successfully performed six crewed and 17 uncrewed flights to the edge of space since 2015, appeared to be climbing normally.
A large flame burst from the base of the rocket just 65 seconds into the mission as the booster began to experience maximum aerodynamic stress. The vehicle was destroyed by an explosion.
The crew capsule's emergency escape system activated and propelled it away from the explosion at high speed.
The commentary stopped for about 45 seconds as the capsule fell back to Earth.
The commentator said that it appeared to be an abnormality on the flight. We don't have any details yet, but our crew capsule escaped successfully. We will follow it as it lands.
The capsule landed in the West Texas desert about five minutes later.
The team is looking into the cause of the New Shepard's first midair failure.
Blue Origin has not said why the launch of Monday's flight was delayed.
Blue Origin uses its New Shepard rocket to send paying passengers on short trips to the edge of space. Blue Origin owner and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was one of four people to take the first crewed flight.
It is not yet known how today's accident will affect future flights. The company will be happy to have seen the capsule deploy as it was meant to, with the safety mechanism also providing reassurance to anyone considering taking a New Shepard flight in the future.
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