Successful Short Hop, Setback, and Next Vehicle

Three months ago, we successfully flew our second test vehicle in a short hop mission, and then last week we lost the vehicle during a developmental test at Mach 1.2 and an altitude of 45,000 feet. A flight instability drove an angle of attack that triggered our range safety system to terminate thrust on the vehicle. Not the outcome any of us wanted, but we’re signed up for this to be hard, and the Blue Origin team is doing an outstanding job. We’re already working on our next development vehicle.

Gradatim Ferociter! 

Jeff Bezos

P.S. In case you’re curious and wondering “where is the crew capsule,” the development vehicle doesn’t have a crew capsule—just a close-out fairing instead. We’re working on the sub-orbital crew capsule separately, as well as an orbital crew vehicle to support NASA’s Commercial Crew program.