Blue Origin's Rocket Launch Fails One Minute After 'Engine Anomaly'

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] Blue Origin, the space exploration company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, failed its first commercial rocket launch on the 12th (local time).

According to Bloomberg News and Blue Origin's website, Blue Origin launched the New Shepard suborbital rocket equipped with an unmanned capsule on that day.

The New Shepard, launched from Texas around 10:40 a.m., showed the booster engine suddenly emitting flames at an altitude of 28,000 feet (approximately 8.5 km) less than a minute after launch.

Subsequently, the rocket's emergency system was activated, and the capsule separated from the rocket deployed its parachute and landed safely on the ground. The New Shepard is a cargo transport rocket without crew onboard, and no casualties or property damage have been reported from this incident.

Blue Origin stated on Twitter, "We are responding to the issue that occurred during this morning's launch," adding, "The capsule separation system functioned as designed."

Erica Wagner, a Blue Origin employee, explained, "We were able to confirm how the backup system maintained the payload safely under abnormal conditions."

This launch was the 23rd New Shepard rocket launch, and it is the first time Blue Origin has experienced a rocket launch failure since starting commercial flights.

The New Shepard rocket is the same rocket used for Blue Origin's paid space travel, and according to the report, it is designed so that the capsule carrying passengers separates in case of a launch failure.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) stated in a release that it "will investigate and oversee the incident."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.