The Blue Origin New Shepard capsule separates from the booster after an anomaly during launch on Sept. 12, 2022. (Blue Origin)

Something went wrong during a launch attempt of the uncrewed Blue Origin New Shepard rocket that sent the capsule jettisoning away to safety mid-flight, and now the Jeff Bezos rocket has been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Blue Origin was aiming for a short mission to space minus any humans on board, but an “anomaly” about one minute after liftoff traveling about 700 mph at about 28,000 feet sent the crew capsule blasting away from the booster, which was left behind in a massive fireball from the capsule’s emergency separation engines.

“It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly on today’s flight,” said commentator Erika Wagner during a live broadcast of the launch from west Texas. “This wasn’t planned and we don’t have any details yet, but our crew capsule was able to escape successfully.”

Blue Origin later referred to the incident as a “booster failure” confirming it crashed on its Twitter account noting the “escape system performed as designed.”

The FAA, which is in charge of public safety during commercial space launches and landings, grounded the rocket pending an investigation to “determine whether any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap affected public safety,” according to an FAA statement, although noted this is standard practice after any “mishap.”

“The anomaly that occurred triggered the capsule escape system,” the FAA stated. “The capsule landed safely and the booster impacted within the designated hazard area. No injuries or public property damage have been reported.”

Booster failure on today’s uncrewed flight. Escape system performed as designed. pic.twitter.com/xFDsUMONTh

The capsule ended up being able to tumble away from the booster rising up to more than 37,000 feet before descending slowly with its three parachutes deployed for a desert landing near the launch pad.

“There goes the retro thrust system,” said Wagner as the capsule touched down, although it was unclear from the video if the last-second engine push to cushion the landing actually fired. “You can see how our backup safety systems kicked in today to keep our payloads safe during an off-nominal situation. Safety is our highest value at Blue Origin. It’s why we built so much redundancy into the system.”

Still, the capsule was on the ground in one piece.

This was the 23rd flight attempt of the rocket that has most famously brought humans on short 10-11 minute trips to space above the Karman line — about 62 miles high — the internationally recognized altitude for someone having gone into space.

The NS-23 mission of a Blue Origin New Shepard is engulfed in flame from the emergency separation engine of the capsule during a launch on Sept. 12, 2022. (Blue Origin)

Company founder and multibillionaire Jeff Bezos was among the rocket’s first passengers in July 2021, and it has since flown five more crewed missions sending 31 people into space including Star Trek’s William Shatner, NFL Hall of Famer and “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan, and Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American in space for whom the rocket is named.

Three of its customers have been from Central Florida with Winter Park power couple Marc and Sharon Hagle who flew in March followed by Brevard County millionaire Steve Young last month.

Instead of the more regular human tourist flights, NS-23 was flying with 36 science and research payloads using the capsule RSS H.G. Wells, which is dedicated to uncrewed flights. Two of them were affixed to the exterior of New Shepard’s booster for ambient exposure to space, so they were likely destroyed.

The booster known as Tail 3 normally would have made a return for an upright landing at the launch site for reuse on later missions. It had made eight successful launches and landings since 2017.

The company retired Tail 2 after five flights from 2015-2016. The company’s first booster was lost during a crash on landing on the first launch in 2015.

Tail 4 is the booster that has been used on all human flights, and it has made eight flights overall as well. Its paired with the capsule RSS First Step.

“We have big plans for Tail 4,” said Roxy Schneider, Director for New Shepard mission and flight operations in a taped segment before the launch failure. “It has 20 more missions before the end of its life, and we plan on flying a lot of people to space on those next 20 missions.”

Among the capsule payloads that should still be safe were two experiments from students at Osceola County’s NeoCity Academy, testing sound waves in zero gravity.

“We are so proud of the work that our students put in to their payloads for today’s launch,” said NeoCity Academy Principal Michael Meechin. “While the unexpected occurred — this is the point. Today’s launch became an incredible learning opportunity for our students. When we experience anomalies in our work, we reach the deepest level of learning.”

Eighteen of the payloads were funded through NASA, with many added via its Flight Opportunities program. Many are targeted STEM projects for K-12 schools and organizations. Other experiments on board come from Honeybee Robotics, the University of Florida, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

The launch attempt was the fourth of 2022, with the previous three having each sent up six passengers.

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