In a dramatic setback in the quest for commercial spaceflight, a spaceship bankrolled by Amazon CEO by Jeff Bezos crashed during a test flight. According to official statements from Blue Origin, the company behind the ship, it became unstable around 45,000 feet and had to be aborted. Blue Origin is also one of the companies granted government money to be used in the development of private spacecraft.
As for the craft lost, it was not paid for with taxpayer money.
For Blue Origin, the goal at its founding was to develop a vertical takeoff/landing vehicle that could ferry passengers and/or cargo into orbit. So promising were the concepts put forth by the company that it was awarded $3.7 million in government money. Of special interest to the government was Blue Origin's 'pusher' launch abort system, which functions by WHAT.
For the general public, Blue Origin has been a bit of a secret.
Formed in 2000, the existence of the company was not even made public for another 3 years. In 2005, Blue Origin made headlines for all the wrong reasons when Amazon CEO Bezos started buying large tracts of land in Texas, from where the company conducts tests. Referring to the sudden, massive purchases, the local media dubbed the whole affair as a 'land grab.'
In the intervening years, the tight-lipped operations have continued./ While conspiracy theorists may like to speculate, the secrecy is probably in an effort to stop corporate espionage from rival commercial spaceflight companies.
As of now, after the failed test flight, Bezos commented that “this was not the outcome any of us wanted,” but acknowledged that the effort to build spacecraft was a difficult endeavor and that his company would continue its work.
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