Jeff Bezos, a US millionaire who designed the New Shepard rocket and capsule system, had to abort a mission midflight over the Texas desert.

After the rocket had been on the launch pad for roughly a minute, there appeared to be a motor failure.

The capsule was propelled clear by a motor, allowing it to use parachutes to gently land again.

The only payload on this particular flight of New Shepard, which often transports passengers, was a collection of zero-G experiments.

The cars were traveling upward at a speed of 700 mph (1,120 kph) at an altitude of slightly over 28,000 feet (8.5 km).

Since its debut in 2015, New Shepard has completed 23 missions.

On the 16th outing of the system, in July 2021, it began transporting passengers on brief ascents. On that occasion, Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark were on the team.

When William Shatner, the star of the Star Trek film series, was aboard Flight 18, it attracted interest on a global scale.

The mission on Monday was unmanned. 36 payloads from universities, research centers, and students from around the world were transported in the capsule, which was mostly funded by the US space agency Nasa.