↑ Blue Origin, a new Shepard rocket about to take off
On September 12, local time, a rocket of the space company "Blue Origin" created by Jeff Bezos failed shortly after launch in Texas, USA, which was a major setback for Amazon's founders' space dreams.
The new Shepard rocket sent 31 people into space
Just a minute after the unmanned new "Shepard" rocket was launched, bright yellow flames appeared around the engine at its bottom. The launch escape system is then activated, separating the cargo-carrying capsule from the booster, which is then taken to land in a remote desert by parachute. The booster crashed, but fortunately there were no casualties on the ground.
The malfunctioning booster is similar to the previous blue origin booster used to launch a six-person space flight into suborbital orbit. This is the 23rd flight of the new "Shepard" rocket, which takes its name from the first American to go into space, Alan Shepard.
Blue Origin said the rocket launch was intended for flight tests, carrying 36 batches of experimental equipment from academic and research institutions and students from around the world.
"It looks like we had an anomaly in our rocket flight today, which is unexpected, we don't have more details at the moment, but our capsule has successfully escaped." Erica Wagner, senior director of emerging space markets at Blue Origin, said during the webcast launch.
So far, Blue Origin has sent 31 people into space with a new Shepard rocket, each flight lasting 10 to 15 minutes, the most recent of which was last month. Previous passengers included company founder Bezos and Actor William Shatner, who starred in Star Trek.
Although the thrusters and capsules used in the rocket were different from those used on previous manned rockets, the accident could lead to a delay in Blue Origin's launch program as engineers needed to find and correct the cause of the abnormal operation.
Blue Origin is not only engaged in space tourism, but is also working with NASA to develop a manned lunar landing module.
↑ Jeff Bezos
Bezos' space dream was mixed
According to the Forbes magazine list, Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is the second richest man in the world in 2022, behind Elon Musk, with a fortune of up to $171 billion.
Since stepping down as Amazon's CEO last July, Bezos has poured more time into the company he invests in, Blue Origin, setting aside Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons to stay up-to-date and discuss with the company. He also promised to sell $1 billion worth of Amazon stock each year to back the company.
Other investments in space by Bezos include the Bezos Earth Fund, which provides $100 million a year to the Environmental Defense Fund, a U.S.-based nonprofit, to build and operate a satellite that monitors methane. Amazon, which Bezos founded and still operates today, is developing a series of low-orbit satellites to provide low-latency, high-speed networks for the ground.
Bezos showed a keen interest in space in high school, when he mentioned in his graduation speech that he wanted to build space hotels, theme parks, yachts and colonies for two or three million people in orbit near Earth. He also starred in a small alien role in the 2016 sci-fi film Star Trek: Beyond the Stars.
Bezos' space dream was mixed. On the one hand, he accompanied the new "Shepard" rocket to take off, a sensation; But on the other hand, his "Blue Origin" company has been criticized by former employees for alleged sexual harassment in the workplace and disregard for employees' safety demands.
Last September, Blue Origin missed out on a $2.9 billion contract that NASA gave to Elon Musk's Space X.
Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, two years before Musk founded Space Exploration Technologies, but now it seems that Musk is behind. Bezos's opponents have long since successfully sent satellites and astronauts into space, and are developing a giant rocket designed to send humans to Mars.
Red Star News reporter Wang Di
Edited by Guan Li, Pan Li
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