The rocket company owned by the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has suffered its first launch failure – with an escape system flinging the crew capsule to safety.

Pictures show flames shooting from the engine about a minute into flight and the capsule firing off from the rocket’s nose.

It later landed in the Texan desert supported by three parachutes.

The mission on Monday was crewless and contained dozens of experiments, but is the same system used for launching people to the edge of space.

Blue Origin said the “capsule escape system functioned as designed” after the booster failed on its New Shepard rocket.

Video released by the company showed the capsule’s touchdown but not the fate of the rocket, which was going about 700mph at around 28,000ft (8,500m).

Launch commentary went silent when the failure occurred, with the announcer eventually saying: “It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This wasn’t planned.”

Pete Davidson drops out of Jeff Bezos’s latest Blue Origin space flight

Glen de Vries: CEO who went into space with William Shatner killed in plane crash

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin loses legal fight to take part in NASA moon landings

The rocket usually lands itself upright so it can be used on future flights.

The FAA, America’s aviation watchdog, has grounded the rocket pending an investigation.

It was the 23rd mission for the company and Mr Bezos was on the first crewed mission last year.

Thirty-one people, including Star Trek actor William Shatner, have travelled on the rocket and the last paying flight was last month.

Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX are all competing in the emerging space tourism sector.

Related posts:

Social media bosses should face jail over worst content, says police watchdog chief Bill Gates was warned to stop sending flirtatious emails to female colleague in 2008, Microsoft reveals Gaming giant that owns Candy Crush and Call Of Duty sacks more than 20 employees after harassment claims How are the big tech companies responding to the invasion of Ukraine? Largest-ever land-based predator dinosaur found on the Isle of Wight An inside look at the most hazardous building in Western Europe as work to remove radioactive sludge begins Scientists create living human skin for robots Twitter suing Indian government over orders to block content and suspend accounts ‘It’s a pretty big deal’: Meta claims breakthrough in ‘superpower’ AI translation ‘Wait for your mind to be blown’: New space telescope to show universe as never seen before Twitter sues Musk accusing him of ‘trashing company’ after he pulled out of $44bn deal Grey wolves could be reintroduced to the American West