Blue Origin's crew capsule has landed back in Texas after an unplanned in-flight abort. The capsule is flying NASA-sponsored experiments on today's flight, but no people.The spacecraft fired its solid-fueled abort motor about a minute after liftoff.spaceflightnow.com/2022/09/12/blu…
Quote from: ZachS09 on 09/12/2022 02:33 pmCouldn’t tell if the booster fell back and RUD’ed on the ground, or it continued to thrust upward.Considering that the engine catastrophically failed and the booster was visibly tilting off-axis as the capsule separated, I think it's very unlikely that the booster remained on any kind of controlled trajectory. The question is whether it fell back to the ground in one piece, or broke apart (or was destroyed by range safety) in midair.
Couldn’t tell if the booster fell back and RUD’ed on the ground, or it continued to thrust upward.
We’re responding to an issue this morning at our Launch Site One location in West Texas. More information to come as it is available.
Have to commend the webcast host. Stayed cool and professional throughout the anomaly.
It does look to me like the engine exhaust flashed a couple of times prior to failure, which could indicate engine rich exhaust prior to engine failure. Great demo of the crew escape system.
It was also around MaxQ so they would have been changing the throttle on the engine, sometimes that means passing through engine operating speeds which are not kind to the hardware, I don’t know enough about BE-3 to know if this is a possibility.
Quote from: Polaroid on 09/12/2022 02:41 pmHave to commend the webcast host. Stayed cool and professional throughout the anomaly.She read prepared anomaly statements.
What luck nobody was onboard. How many crewed versus uncrewed flights have there been since they started flying crew?Glad to see the abort system working as intended, and that the crew (presumably) would have been safe if onboard.
We’re responding to an issue this morning at our Launch Site One location in West Texas. This was a payload mission with no astronauts on board. The capsule escape system functioned as designed. More information to come as it is available.
What we do know is that Blue Origin has had an exceptional safety record heretofore with New Shepard, with no significant problem on its previous 20 flights. Also, this booster was not human-rated, unlike Booster 4, which is used for crew flights.
Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed.
In a statement, the FAA says it will lead the investigation into the uncrewed Blue Origin mishap. Says no injuries have been reported. The FAA will have to sign off before New Shepard can return to flight.
FAA StatementThe FAA will oversee the investigation of Blue Origin's NS-23 mishap that occurred at its Launch Site One location in West Texas.The anomaly that occurred triggered the capsule escape system. The capsule landed safely and the booster impacted within the designated hazard area. No injuries or public property damage have been reported.This was a payload only mission; there were no humans aboard.Before the New Shepard vehicle can return to flight, the FAA will determine whether any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap affected public safety. This is standard practice for all mishap investigations (faa.gov].The FAA is responsible for protecting the public during commercial space transportation launch and reentry operations.
*snip tweet*QuoteWhat we do know is that Blue Origin has had an exceptional safety record heretofore with New Shepard, with no significant problem on its previous 20 flights. Also, this booster was not human-rated, unlike Booster 4, which is used for crew flights.I didn’t know that Blue have different classes of boosters?! Wow, is that ‘just’ differences in assurance or even differences in design?
