Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket explodes during launch 

Jeff Bezos’ rocket company saw its first rocket launch failure on Monday at a site in west Texas, creating a potential setback for the entrepreneur’s plans to send people to space. 

One minute and 4 seconds after the launch, the Blue Origin rocket New Shephard busted into flames. The capsule’s emergency launch abort system went off, ejecting the crew capsule from the top of the rocket. A few minutes later, the capsule landed on the desert floor using the emergency parachute.

“It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly with today’s flight – this was unplanned and we do not have any details yet, but our crew capsule was able to escape successfully,” said Erika Wagner, senior director of emerging space markets at Blue Origin. 

“You can see how our backup safety systems kicked in today to keep our payload safe during an off-nominal situation. Safety is our highest value at Blue Origin. It’s why we built so much redundancy into the system.”

The failure took place when the rocket was traveling at almost 700 mph at an altitude of 28,999 feet. The mishap took place at the point where the rocket is under maximum pressure, known as max-q. 

A live stream video shared by Blue Origin captured the moment the rocket catches fire and the capsule parachutes down, crashing onto the desert floor. 

No one was hurt and no damage was reported after the failed rocket launch, said the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a statement. However, there were 36 experiments on board, half of which were sponsored by NASA. 

Bezos’ New Shepard rocket is the same that Blue Origin uses to launch people on 10-minute rides to the edge of space. Blue Origin’s most recent flight with people on board took place last month. So far, 31 individuals have boarded the Blue Origin. 

The rocket will be grounded as the FAA investigated the incident.