Bezos Blunder: Blue Origin Rocket Fails During Liftoff

Jeff Bezos’ rocket company, Blue Origin, saw its latest rocket launch fail during liftoff this Monday. No humans were aboard the capsule, which separated from the rocket and parachuted to Earth after the mission was aborted. The rocket flew out of control after what the company called an “anomaly.”

AP News reports that Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, had a disastrous launch on Monday when its latest rocket failed during liftoff. The rocket reportedly veered off course over West Texas just a minute after liftoff. Thankfully, no crew or passengers were aboard the capsule launched by the rocket.

The capsule’s launch abort system was enabled immediately, lifting the craft off the top of the rocket. The capsule then parachuted onto the desert floor safely. Blue Origin’s launch commentary went silent as the capsule flew away from the rocket, later stating: “It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This wasn’t planned.”

The issue occurred while the rocket was traveling at almost 700 mph at an altitude of around 28,000 feet. No video of the rocket was shown but footage of the capsule was captured.

Rockets launched by Blue Origin usually return safely to the desert floor, landing upright and reusable for future launches, however, this did not appear to happen this time.

The launch commentator, Erika Wagner, said that the capsule escaped successfully. The webcast of the launch showed that it reached a maximum altitude of 37,000 feet. The capsule did not have any crew onboard but was carrying thirty-six experiments, half of which were sponsored by NASA.

The company later tweeted: “Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed.” This marked the 23rd flight for the New Shepard program, which is named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard.

In 2021, Star Trek actor William Shatner and three other passengers flew to space aboard a Blue Origin rocket. Shatner became the oldest person to visit space at 90-year-old.

In the same year, Blue Origin also faced accusations of promoting a toxic “bro culture” that resulted in mistrust, low morale, and project delays. A mid-level employee departed the company in 2019 but not before sending a long memo to Bezos and CEO Bob Smith in which he stated: “Our current culture is toxic to our success and many can see it spreading throughout the company.” The memo stated that the problems at Blue Origin were “systemic,” and that “the loss of trust in Blue’s leadership is common.”

Read more at AP News here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan