Blue Monday for Blue Origin as rocket bursts into flame

An uncrewed flight test of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket failed about one minute after launch on Monday when the rocket booster erupted in flames. The crew capsule, carrying experiments but no people, separated and parachuted back to Earth. "This was a payload mission with no astronauts on board," the company said in a …

[Auntie Dix]

Phallus on Fire

Bezos should be more careful about whom he sticks it to, to avoid that uncomfortable burning sensation.

[ComputerSays_noAbsolutelyNo]

Re: Phallus on Fire

I guess some parts of the engine were rapidly and unexpectedly dilated

[Flocke Kroes]

Re: Phallus on Fire

A rocket is sometimes just a rocket.

[Anonymous Coward]

Bezo's last minute name change...

Blew Origin.

[anonymous boring coward]

That separation's just gonna hurt...

[Anonymous Coward]

Shake n' Vac, bring the stiffness back...

Well, only for a millisecond or two...once the g-forces take over and assuming the capsule isn't compromised.

Otherwise, it's Shake n' Vac, bring the stiffness' back, if you get my drift (given the capsule's trajectory)

[NoneSuch]

No one likes trashing civvy space companies more than me, but in this case the crew capsule separated perfectly and automatically. It was much faster then any human could have reacted. Crew safety is paramount and shows they've done that part correctly.

If you could choose a few bruises from hard acceleration or exploding in front of friends and family, what would you decide?

[steviebuk]

They must of

bought all the parts from Chinese seller's off Amazon. And all packages contained a bribe for 5 star reviews.

[MiguelC]

Re: They must of

"Have"

Have Have Have Have Have Have

Have...

Sorry

[steviebuk]

Re: They must of

As I always say as my excuse. I grew up in London innit. So its "must of" as in must've but typed the way I say it. Like birfday.

;o)

[dogcatcher]

Re: They must of

Sarf Lundun possibly?

[steviebuk]

Re: They must of

Nope, West Side massive!

[Spherical Cow]

Re: They must of

- So its "must of" as in must've

But... the apostrophe in must've is a placeholder for the missing ha. It's not of and never has been (despite your regional mispronunciation).

[steviebuk]

Re: They must of

Its gone over your 'ed.

[Richard 12]

It's going to hurt sales

While the emergency separation is rather more survivable than staying with the booster, it's seriously violent.

If there had been any passengers aboard, they would have been injured. And if old (like most billionaires), they might never really recover - or even die as a result.

While customers have of course have been told the risks, watching the capsule rip itself away from a fireball then decelerate hard (both many Gs) makes it feel more real.

[AdaLoveseal]

Re: It's going to hurt sales

The escape motor fired near max-Q, which also means the aerodynamic deceleration was hard. Problem is, aerodynamic deceleration while the capsule is traveling upwards means passengers are pushed towards the ceiling, not the floor. In other words, they get pushed against their harnesses, not their seats. At multiple Gs, that HAS to hurt.

[Ken G]

Re: It's going to hurt sales

AFAIK any ejection system is seriously painful - the straps crush your nadgers - so you only use it when the alternative is worse (in this case, joining in with an enormous kaboom).

[PRR]

Re: It's going to hurt sales

> ...they get pushed against their harnesses, not their seats. At multiple Gs, that HAS to hurt.

It does. Hurt bad. I was put in a harness simulator. Tiny cart rolls down a short (<6', 2m) 20 degree slope (2' 0.5m rise) track to a rubber bumper. BAM!! Bumped my brain-pan (icon: dizzy). Knocked out my breath. Shoulders felt crushed. I staggered as I walked away. I'll never do that again. (But if you get the chance, you should try it once.) And this was obviously a small demo taste of a real impact. Insignificant bruising, whereas folks in car-crashes can be blue all over chest and lap. And happy to be alive.

[Ian Johnston]

Re: It's going to hurt sales

While the emergency separation is rather more survivable than staying with the booster, it's seriously violent.

Despite the bleatings of the PR droid narrating the launch, it appears to me that the capsule hit the ground very hard indeed, with no sign of its retro rockets firing. Passengers might have survived the separation, but there is no way they would have survived the "landing".

[Spherical Cow]

Re: It's going to hurt sales

Difficult to tell whether the retros fired, it was behind a rise in the ground.

[Zebo-the-Fat]

While I'm no fan of BO's up and down space ride, it is good to know that the escape system works. Looks like a rough ride, but not as rough as staying with a failed and burning booster

[Andy The Hat]

I appreciate this is a mission failure but it was a successful demonstration of the automatic abort system. From what I've seem it would have been a hard time for occupants on a "live cargo" mission but better alive and bruised than toasted and blown to bits ...

At least this shows rockets should not be treated as toys for the rich to ride in ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Without knowing the g-forces, they would have been subject to, writing 'bruised', is rather optimistic, it's anywhere between that and dead, without knowing the full facts.

[Loyal Commenter]

Indeed. The most apposite term might be "recoverable", and that's not in the sense that they might recover from the injuries, but rather the opposite of what they would have been if they had stayed part of the fireball. As in "the black box was recoverable".

[ArrZarr]

I'd say you're splitting hairs somewhat there.

It really, truly sucks to be a passenger of the automatic abort system's activation on a rocket, but it's considerably more passenger-friendly than goddamn huge fireballs tearing up your jacksie.

[Loyal Commenter]

To be honest, when the choice is between being flambéed and liquidised, it's not much of a choice.

[spireite]

His excitement was a little premature....

Apparently, when this happened he exclaimed.....

"What other problem is going to bephallus...."

Is the next one going to be sponsored by Durex, to ensure it lasts long enough?

[JDPower666]

Come on Reg, serious clickbait, it didn't burst into flame at all. The flame you see is the capsule engines firing to separate it from the booster after the booster engine failed.

[Spherical Cow]

What about when the booster hit the ground? While I haven't seen the footage of that yet, I'm willing to bet that if it was still intact-ish before impact it would certainly have burst into flame at that point.

[Anonymous Coward]

Next launch the 5th of November

Light blue touch paper and step well back.