A Blue Origin rocket launcher crashed shortly after takeoff in West Texas on Monday, September 12, and Jeff Bezos’ company said the capsule could separate from the rest of the rocket.

“Launcher failure on drone today”First announced by the company, later stated that the capsule ejection system worked as expected. “No People”Blue Origin said.

About a minute after liftoff, a video shows the capsule activating its emergency engines, ejecting from the main launcher at full speed, and then making a hard landing accompanied by parachutes. The video, written by the company, does not show what happened to the launcher “fell to the ground”If successful it should gently stand up.

A hard blow

The unmanned capsule carried only research equipment for the mission “New Shepherd 23”.

The FAA, the US civil aviation regulator, said further take-offs of the rocket had been halted pending an investigation. “The capsule landed safely and the launcher touched down in the danger zone”The federal agency wrote.

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It was the company’s 23rd mission, the first to end in failure. This is a setback for the space tourism company led by the Amazon founder.

Jeff Bezos himself attended On New Shepard’s first manned flight In July 2021. After that, about thirty people, including the actor playing the machine, were loaded The iconic Captain Kirk of the series Star Trek, William Shatner. In early August, the company successfully sent the first Egyptian and the first Portuguese into space, experiencing weightlessness for several minutes.