Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Space Tourism Dreams Grounded As A Six-Month Investigation into Escape Hatch Error Begins

March 8, 2023

1 min read

Flagship space tourism capsule by Blue Origin’s has been grounded for six months due to an “anomaly” in September 2022. The New Shepard rocket program have continued the investigation since the incident happened, and the reasons of the malfunction are still unknown. The chief architect of the rocket, Gary Lai, has said that they fully intend to be back in business as soon as their preparations are complete.

The Rise and Fall of Fritz X: The World’s First Precision-Guided Combat Weapon

Blue Origin stressed on the apparent malfunction which did show that The escape mechanisms worked as planned. The Blue Origin rocket’s first-phase booster, which had a feature to be reusable, but was lost in the incident. Blue Origin’s suborbital tourism goals seem optimistic even when its tourism crew capsule is still grounded.

Virgin Galactic’s VMS Eve Takes First Test Flight in 16 Months: Testing Upgraded Features for Spaceliner Unity

The company has not been able to provide any specific timelines or plans for when they will fix the situation. The New Shepard crew rocket launch had a few experiments aboard, but thankfully no people. Blue Origin has been funding heavily in its space tourism initiative, which they hope will eventually be a significant revenue source.

The situation is a setback for the company, which has persistently been trying to compete with rivals like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic in the space tourism market. Even if Blue Origin’s reputation has taken a hit following the incident, it remains to be seen how it will affect their overall business going forward. The incident brings up the risks involved in space tourism and the essential need for companies to ensure the safety of their crew and passengers.

Rahul Somvanshi

Rahul, possessing a profound background in the creative industry, illuminates the unspoken, often confronting revelations and unpleasant subjects, navigating their complexities with a discerning eye. He perpetually questions, explores, and unveils the multifaceted impacts of change and transformation in our global landscape. As an experienced filmmaker and writer, he intricately delves into the realms of sustainability, design, flora and fauna, health, science and technology, mobility, and space, ceaselessly investigating the practical applications and transformative potentials of burgeoning developments.

Latest from Space

Left: Blue Marble 2002. Right: GOES-19 full disk GeoColor image from Aug. 30, 2024. This type of imagery combines data from multiple ABI channels to approximate what the human eye would see from space.

NASA’s GOES-19 Reveals the Amazon’s Decline in 42 Million km² Image of the Americas

Details of the American continent, with its approximately 42 million square kilometers of extension including Argentina’s 2.78 million square kilometers, were never before documented with such luminosity, as photographed by NASA’s GOES-19

Spider-shaped features called araneiform terrain are found in the southern hemisphere of Mars, carved into the landscape by carbon dioxide gas. This 2009 image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows several of these distinctive formations within an area three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) wide.

NASA’s Latest Mars Simulation Reveals Surprising Findings and How a 20% Increase in Ice Formation Could Redefine Our Understanding of the Red Planet

Cutting-Edge Experiment Mimics Alien Terrain, But to What Extent? In what some are hailing as a scientific breakthrough, researchers have managed to recreate the peculiar “spider” formations found on Mars in a

Dream Chaser Spaceplane Passes Critical Tests, Nears First ISS Mission

Dream Chaser Spaceplane Completes Critical Testing, Prepares for ISS Missions Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser space plane, named “Tenacity,” has successfully completed a rigorous environmental test suite at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility

NASA Astronauts to Cast 2024 Votes From Space: Why Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Won’t Miss the Presidential Election

Will NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore vote for the US Presidential elections from space? The astronauts, who are spending their time in space, said they plan to cast their ballot

200 Airbus Sparkwing solar arrays for MDA Space's AURORA satellite line.

Airbus Clinches Major Solar Array Deal with MDA Space, Boosting Satellite Constellation Market

On September 16, 2024, Airbus announced a substantial contract with MDA Space Ltd. to furnish over 200 Sparkwing solar arrays for the MDA AURORA™ software-defined satellite product line. This deal marks a

Plans include continued evolution of STM technologies and services.

ESA Partners with Neuraspace to Combat Satellite Collisions: AI-Powered Space Traffic Management in Action

On September 16, 2024, the European Space Agency (ESA) inked a deal with Neuraspace, a Portuguese space traffic management (STM) firm. The contract tasks Neuraspace with providing STM solutions for ESA missions.

Harvest Supermoon and Rare Lunar Eclipse Set to Light Up the Skies—Find Out How and When to See It!

Table of Content What is a Harvest Supermoon? The Harvest Supermoon is a full moon that occurs when the Earth’s natural satellite is at its closest point to the planet during its

Jared Isaacman space walking. Photo Source: @PolarisProgram (X formerly Twitter)

Jared Isaacman’s Historic Spacewalk at 738km: The Highest-Ever Civilian Mission Surpasses the ISS – What Comes Next?

In a move that marks a significant shift in the space industry, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman stepped out of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on Thursday, September 12, 2024, becoming the first civilian

Saturn's Rings to Take Part in a Stargazing Adventure

Saturn’s Rings to Play Cosmic Hide-and-Seek: 280,000 km Spectacle Vanishes in 2025

Saturn, the gas giant adorned with its iconic rings, has long been one of the most fascinating planets in our Solar System. While planets like Jupiter boast colossal size and gravitational dominance,

A Walk on the Moon During Apollo 11 (NASA, July 20, 1969) Photo Souce: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center ( CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic)

How a 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Collision Created the Moon: Apollo’s Findings and Artemis’s Quest for More

Sun and the Moon are the two sources of light during day and night, respectively. There are several theories about the Moon’s formation. It is generally believed that the Moon was formed

Company Selects All Points Logistics for Long-Term Reprocessing of Dream Chaser in Florida on Future Missions. Photo Source: Sierra Space

Dream Chaser Prepares for ISS Mission with 7,800 Pounds of Cargo and a Historic Landing at Kennedy Space Center

In anticipation of its first mission to resupply the International Space Station (ISS), Sierra Space, a commercial space technology company, they were announced that final testing and launch preparations for its Dream

A LEGO-style ESA space brick, 3D-printed using dust from a meteorite.

ESA’s LEGO-Inspired Space Bricks Could Cut Lunar Construction Costs by Tapping Moon’s Own Resources with 3D-Printing

Establishing a permanent base on the Moon is fraught with challenges, but recent developments by the European Space Agency (ESA) suggest that the process might be more straightforward than initially imagined. A

EarthCARE’s multispectral imager puts clouds into context

EarthCARE Satellite Reveals Stunning Cloud Data Just Weeks After Launch: What Its Multispectral Imager Uncovered

The EarthCARE satellite which was launched less than 2 months ago, has returned images from two of its 4 instruments. The first images from its multispectral imager have been delivered now. It

Image of a harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie as seen from the NOAA/NASA Suomi-NPP satellite on August 16, 2015. The Ocean Color Instrument on GeoXO will overcome the limitations of low-Earth orbiting satellites whose observations are often affected by cloud cover and sunglint. Photo Source: NOAA

NOAA’s New GeoXO Satellite Promises Unprecedented U.S. Coastal Data—See How OCX Will Monitor Ocean in Real-Time by 2030s

NOAA is working on its next generation of advanced geostationary satellites, the Geostationary Extended Observation mission, or GeoXO, after nearly 50 years of GOES satellites providing critical Earth observing data and imagery.

Sierra Space Heralds Giant Leap in Microgravity Research and Manufacturing with Historic Test of Expandable Space Station Technology

Orbital Reef Clears Crucial Test: How a 77 PSI Burst Pressurization Sets the Stage for Next-Gen Commercial Space Stations

An element of a NASA-funded commercial space station, Orbital Reef, under development by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, recently completed a full-scale ultimate burst pressure test. This test is part of the

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Space Tourism Dreams Grounded As A Six-Month Investigation into Escape Hatch Error Begins

Rahul Somvanshi

Leave a Reply

Recovered UFO Technology: “Being Reverse-Engineered” or “Beyond Our Understanding?”

Panama Inspires Others In Ocean Conservation With Expansion Of Its Protected Marine Region To 54%

Latest from Space

NASA’s GOES-19 Reveals the Amazon’s Decline in 42 Million km² Image of the Americas

NASA’s Latest Mars Simulation Reveals Surprising Findings and How a 20% Increase in Ice Formation Could Redefine Our Understanding of the Red Planet

Dream Chaser Spaceplane Passes Critical Tests, Nears First ISS Mission

NASA Astronauts to Cast 2024 Votes From Space: Why Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore Won’t Miss the Presidential Election

Airbus Clinches Major Solar Array Deal with MDA Space, Boosting Satellite Constellation Market

ESA Partners with Neuraspace to Combat Satellite Collisions: AI-Powered Space Traffic Management in Action

Harvest Supermoon and Rare Lunar Eclipse Set to Light Up the Skies—Find Out How and When to See It!

Jared Isaacman’s Historic Spacewalk at 738km: The Highest-Ever Civilian Mission Surpasses the ISS – What Comes Next?

Saturn’s Rings to Play Cosmic Hide-and-Seek: 280,000 km Spectacle Vanishes in 2025

How a 4.5 Billion-Year-Old Collision Created the Moon: Apollo’s Findings and Artemis’s Quest for More

Dream Chaser Prepares for ISS Mission with 7,800 Pounds of Cargo and a Historic Landing at Kennedy Space Center

ESA’s LEGO-Inspired Space Bricks Could Cut Lunar Construction Costs by Tapping Moon’s Own Resources with 3D-Printing

NOAA’s New GeoXO Satellite Promises Unprecedented U.S. Coastal Data—See How OCX Will Monitor Ocean in Real-Time by 2030s

Orbital Reef Clears Crucial Test: How a 77 PSI Burst Pressurization Sets the Stage for Next-Gen Commercial Space Stations

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Space Tourism Dreams Grounded As A Six-Month Investigation into Escape Hatch Error Begins

Leave a Reply

Recovered UFO Technology: “Being Reverse-Engineered” or “Beyond Our Understanding?”

Panama Inspires Others In Ocean Conservation With Expansion Of Its Protected Marine Region To 54%

Latest from Space

Don't Miss