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The flight marks a critical moment for the space tourism venture founded by British billionaire Richard Branson in 2004.
A rocket engine powered by Blue Origin exploded last month during testing, according to media reports.
The June 30 blast occurred at a West Texas facility of the space company, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. A BE-4 engine detonated about 10 seconds into the test, CNBC reported.
People familiar with the incident told the news outlet that they saw a “video of a dramatic explosion that destroyed the engine and heavily damaged the test stand infrastructure.”
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Blue Origin’s rocket New Shepard blasts off on the company’s fourth suborbital tourism flight with a six-person crew near Van Horn, Texas. The company’s BE-4 rocket engine exploded during a June 30 test. (Reuters)
In a statement to the outlet, Blue Origin said the engine “ran into an issue while testing Vulcan’s Flight Engine 3.”
“No personnel were injured and we are currently assessing root cause,” the company said. “We already have proximate cause and are working on remedial actions.”
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The engine that exploded was being prepped to ship to Blue Origin’s United Launch Alliance for use on ULA’s second Vulcan rocket launch.
Blue Origin said it immediately notified ULA of the incident. The BE-4 engine was already qualified for flight, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno said Tuesday.
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“ATP failures are not uncommon. That’s why we do them on every single serial number that comes off the line,” Bruno said in a subsequent tweet.
FOX Business has reached out to Blue Origin.
