Nearly a month has passed since the New Glenn rocket exploded on its launch pad in Florida, creating a massive fireball. It was possibly the largest rocket explosion ever at the historic Florida Spaceport, and we are still dealing with its effects today.
The rocket’s explosion destroyed its only launch pad, LC-36A. So even if Blue Origin can quickly determine the cause of the failure, it has no place to launch the New Glenn rocket. Company executives, including founder Jeff Bezos, have said the vehicle will return to flying on the LC-36A before the end of this year, though there is widespread skepticism about that timeline.
In the meantime, we have more questions than answers about a rocket that has become increasingly central to the needs of NASA and commercial customers. What does this failure of the Artemis program mean to land men on the Moon? What do we know about the timing of Artemis III and the lunar landing mission, Artemis IV? What about the base of the moon?
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