Blue Origin investigating cause of New Glenn rocket explosion
Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin suffered a major setback in the modern-day space race Thursday. Its New Glenn rocket exploded during a test on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral.
The fiery blast happened during an engine-firing test as the company prepared for a satellite mission scheduled for next week.
In a post on social media, Bezos confirmed no one was hurt and said teams are already working to figure out what happened.
“It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Bezos said. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
‘Houston, we have a problem’
The loss is another blow for the New Glenn program. Just last month, the rocket was grounded after an engine problem left a satellite in the wrong orbit.
Coming in at a staggering 321 feet tall and named after pioneering astronaut John Glenn, the New Glenn rocket debuted for the first time last year. It’s significantly bigger and more powerful than Blue Origin’s New Shepard rockets, which have carried tourists to the fringes of space.
The mission planned for next week would have been only the fourth time the rocket had flown.
What this means for NASA contracts
Blue Origin plans to use New Glenn for future NASA missions, including delivering landers to the moon as part of the Artemis and Moon Base programs.
The company on track to launch a prototype lander to the moon in the fall. It’s not yet clear if that will still happen.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a post on X. “We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
Isaacman promised to give updates on any impacts this setback could have on future Artemis and Moon Base missions.
Space Force officials said the explosion will not affect upcoming launches by other companies from other launch pads. United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket is scheduled to take off Friday night carrying a batch of Amazon Leo satellites, the same kind of satellites New Glenn was supposed to take up next week.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
