While Blue Origin is investigating the root cause behind last night’s spectacular explosion of its New Glenn rocket, it’s already clear that it will be a major blow to NASA’s moon base plans and Amazon’s budding LEO space internet group.
The incident occurred around 9 p.m. during a hot-fire test at Blue Origin’s Florida launch site, where seven engines in the booster stage burn while keeping the 322-foot-tall rocket stationary on the launchpad. The explosion and resulting fireball severely damaged the only launchpad for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
“It’s too early to know the root cause, but we’re already working to find it,” Blue Origin boss Jeff Bezos wrote on Twitter.
According to conversations with sources Ars TechnicaThe transporter-erector and one of the lightning towers on LC-36A cannot be saved. Senior space editor Eric Berger writes, “New Glenn will almost certainly not launch again in 2026, and clearly a launch during the first half of 2027 would be heroic given launch site concerns.” Ars Technica.
Such delays will affect NASA’s moon base plans. NASA announced Tuesday that New Glenn will deliver a robotic lunar lander as soon as it arrives in 2026. In 2027, Blue Origin is also scheduled to take part in the upcoming Artemis III mission, which will see astronauts dock their Orion capsule with a lunar lander developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
“Space flight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is exceptionally difficult,” said Jared Isaacman, NASA administrator for the X-ray. We will work with our partners to support thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and launch rockets.
The New Glenn rocket that exploded Thursday night was being prepared to carry 48 Amazon LEO satellites — the largest batch ever for a single launch — to low-Earth orbit on an upcoming mission. There were no satellites on board.
To date Amazon has launched more than 300 of the 1,618 LEO satellites required by the FCC by July 30, 2026. Amazon has applied for an extension to retain its license.
Amazon was counting on New Glenn’s huge payload capacity and reusable booster to speed up its already lagging launch schedule. Without its primary workhorse, Amazon will be forced to rely more on secondary providers like United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Arianespace – and its main rival, SpaceX.
“Sorry to see this,” fellow billionaire astronaut Elon Musk wrote on Twitter. “I hope you’ll get better soon.”
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