Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket suffered a major setback on Thursday when it exploded on the launch pad during a routine pre-flight test in Florida. The explosion occurred just days before the rocket was scheduled to launch 48 satellites for Amazon’s internet constellation.
The incident was confirmed by the company, stating that an anomaly occurred during the hotfire test, causing extensive damage to the launch pad and equipment. Fortunately, no injuries were reported. The blast damaged Blue Origin’s only launch pad, including a lightning tower and the equipment used to lift rockets into position.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, took to social media to address the setback, stating, “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, also commented on the incident, acknowledging the challenges of rocket launches.
Blue Origin had planned 12 New Glenn launches for this year in an effort to compete with SpaceX. Amazon has invested $2.7 billion in Blue Origin to help launch its Leo satellite constellation, and the company is crucial to meeting regulatory deadlines.
This unfortunate event marks the second major setback for New Glenn in recent months. In April, the rocket deployed a satellite at too low an altitude, causing it to fail. US regulators grounded the rocket, but it was cleared for flight just last week, surprising analysts who expected a longer delay.
Despite the setback, Blue Origin was awarded $468 million by NASA for two uncrewed lunar landers as part of US plans to return people to the Moon by 2028. NASA has stated that they will work with Blue Origin to investigate the anomaly, assess mission impacts, and resume rocket launches.
The explosion has forced customers of Blue Origin to turn to SpaceX for their upcoming launches. The competition between the two companies continues as they strive to advance space exploration and satellite deployment.