![]() Instead, the launch failure has triggered an anomaly investigation that will search for the root cause and try to uncover shortcomings that will then need to be rectified before New Shepard can return to flight. NS-23 was its fourth planned launch in 2022, suggesting that it could have achieved a similar cadence this year if the mission had had a different fate. To Blue Origin’s credit, the company managed a record six New Shepard launches – three carrying tourists – in 2021. ![]() The differences could not be more stark or strange, given that both companies have been operating more or less side by side and working towards similar goals for as long as they’ve existed. (SpaceX) Completed on September 11th, Falcon 9’s latest mission was its 173rd successful orbital launch. In the roughly six years between October 2016 and September 2022, New Shepard completed 10 uncrewed suborbital launches, 6 suborbital tourist launches, and suffered one failure during another uncrewed mission – 18 total launches.ĭespite suffering a catastrophic failure that destroyed a customer’s multimillion-dollar satellite in September 2016, SpaceX returned to flight four months later, completed 150 orbital Falcon launches without fail in the same period debuted the world’s largest operational rocket, Falcon Heavy, and completed two additional launches with it debuted Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon 2 on Falcon 9 launched its first astronauts into orbit, launched its first operational astronaut transport mission for NASA, launched its first two Starlink internet satellite prototypes, launched another 60 refined Starlink prototypes, began operational Falcon 9 Starlink launches, built and launched more than 3000 Starlink satellites total landed 130+ Falcon boosters, and reuse Falcon boosters 117 times. ![]() Instead, after a successful suborbital launch in October 2016, New Shepard didn’t fly again until December 2017. That is where, for the most part, the paths of Blue Origin and SpaceX almost entirely diverged – but not in any obvious way. Nine months later, Falcon 9 suffered a catastrophic failure during prelaunch testing in September 2016 and didn’t return to flight until January 2017. In December 2015, one month after Blue Origin’s first successful New Shepard landing, SpaceX aced its first Falcon 9 booster landing. In January 2015, it attempted to recover a Falcon 9 booster for the first time. In 2012, Falcon 9 successfully launched an orbital Dragon spacecraft which became the first private vehicle to dock to the International Space Station. In June 2010, it successfully debuted Falcon 9, an orbital-class rocket roughly 20 times larger. It also invites less than favorable comparisons with SpaceX, a different spaceflight startup also funded and founded by a tech tycoon in the early 2000s.įounded a year and a half after Blue Origin, SpaceX, in comparison, reached orbit with Falcon 1 in 2008. The failure is still not going to do the reputation of Blue Origin or New Shepard any favors. However, thanks to the seemingly flawless unplanned performance of New Shepard’s abort system, it’s safe to say that the day could have gone much worse for Blue Origin. While any failure of a rocket is unfortunate, the failure of a rocket nominally designed to launch humans can have even worse repercussions. maybe the nozzle fell apart?!? /OOzPkPiX6G- Flo September 12, 2022 there is room for a lot of speculation □– i did a frame by frame Picture – on the bottom row you can see some parts falling away. Had a crew of suborbital tourists been aboard, they would have likely been a little battered but otherwise completely unharmed. Thankfully, NS-23 was only carrying experiments, and no humans were at risk. The capsule ultimately coasted to an apogee of 11.4 kilometers (7.1 miles) – almost ten times lower than nominal – before descending back to Earth, deploying its parachute system, and safely touching down in the Texas desert scrub. Less than a second after that, the rocket’s aft and began shedding pieces and stopped producing thrust, triggering a solid rocket motor stored inside its deployable capsule.Ībout a second after the incident began, the capsule’s abort motor ignited and carried the suborbital spacecraft safely away from the failing New Shepard booster. Less than two seconds after the first seemingly harmless flash, flames unintentionally burst from New Shepard’s engine section and quickly surrounded its BE-3PM engine. The first signs of trouble appeared about 62 seconds after liftoff in the form of flickers and flashes in New Shepard’s exhaust, which is normally almost transparent. B7JSvKtEya- Chris Bergin – NSF September 12, 2022 ABORT! New Shepard failed during first stage ascent.
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