Hearing that they had an in-flight abort on a research flight (no one on board). Capsule reportedly landed safely.
[Update a few minutes later]
[Update a few more minutes later]
Here is the story at SpaceExplored.
[Update a while later]
Bob Zimmerman has video.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s the story from Eric Berger.
[Afternoon update]
I was watching the livestream, having sat through the two long holds for no reason, and was thinking, “Sooner or later this thing will blow up,” and just then it did. The FAA announcement suggests the rocket itself crashed intact in the desert after the visible engine RUD. It looked to me to be about as bad as the first of Falcon 9’s two first stage engine RUDs, proving once again who won Cluster’s Last Stand. On the first Dragon demo flight in 2010, a corner engine ruptured, blowing off the lower fairing, then the LV continued to orbit, spitting chunks on the way.
That F9 engine failure actually occurred on the CRS-1 mission in Oct. 2012. That was the 4th flight of F9.
Meh. Roller Coaster ride fails. Meh.
Maybe they should use Liquid Methane rather than Liquid Hydrogen
Abort system works in practice.
Propulsion system failure mode discovered.
Nice.
The FAA investigation might reveal some interesting details about New Shepherd, much like would’ve happened if the FAA or NTSB had been asked to investigate a failure of a Russian R-7 booster back in the mid-1950’s.