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by Frompo 3541 days ago
Yeah, that tumbling didn't look like it was intended.
2 comments

I'm not sure about Blue Origin, but the Apollo abort system intentionally introduced a tumble into the capsule as part of the abort process. The reason for this is that it was stable in two positions - nose first, and heat shield first. Only the latter was survivable on reentry.

It was more stable in the heat shield first position, so by introducing a tumble, they were able to avoid nose-first and ensure an abort followed by reentry was something that could be survived.

I don't know if Blue Origin is doing the same thing - but it's not impossible this was something they might have wanted.

Though this is not a reentry. You would not get the same heating effects when aborting a launch, during reentry you'd get all that lateral speed you need to decelerate from. Not the case during abort.
Still better than the alternative.