Blue Origin rocket crashes shortly after liftoff | Video

Screengrab from video tweeted by @blueorigin

Jeff Bezos’ space travel company, Blue Origin, suffered its first failure on Monday when a rocket crashed back to Earth shortly after lift-off.

The uncrewed Blue Origin rocket carrying research payloads crashed shortly after liftoff from Texas, reports AFP. Luckily, the capsule carrying experiments escaped and floated safely back to Earth – as captured in a video that Blue Origin later shared on social media.

“Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed,” the company tweeted. Their footage shows the capsule firing emergency thrusters to separate itself from its booster rocket within a minute of the launch.

Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed. pic.twitter.com/xFDsUMONTh

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 12, 2022

It was the 23rd mission for the New Shepard rocket program, named after the first American in space, and the first to end in failure.

While the rocket was uncrewed, meaning no people were aboard, scientists were encouraged by the fact that the escape system performed as it was supposed to. Had people been aboard the rocket, they would likely have survived.

Blue Origin noted that the rocket "impacted the ground" instead of landing upright as it normally does.

The New Shepard suborbital rockets have been grounded pending an investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said, which is standard procedure.

"The capsule landed safely and the booster impacted within the designated hazard area. No injuries or public property damage have been reported," the FAA added.

This failure has been seen has a setback for the burgeoning space tourism industry. Blue Origin began flying humans to space last year for 10-minute rides.

A total of 32 passengers - including Jeff Bezos himself - have since gotten to experience a few minutes' weightlessness and observe the curve of the Earth before the capsule re-enters the atmosphere and floats down for a gentle desert landing.