Washington, United States. Blue Origin’s uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded on the launchpad during a test on Thursday, marking a setback for Jeff Bezos’ space venture as it tries to narrow the gap with SpaceX.
Launchpad explosion
Video posted by NASASpaceflight, a YouTube channel that livestreams launches from Florida, showed the New Glenn igniting on the pad at about 2100 ET (0100 GMT on Friday) before erupting into a massive fireball that sent flames and smoke skyward.
Blue Origin said it experienced an “anomaly,” a term commonly used by rocket companies to describe a launch failure or explosion.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more,” the company said in a post on X. A hot-fire test is when a rocket engine is fired while anchored to the ground.
NASA response
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency was aware of the incident.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. 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,” he said on X.
Isaacman also said NASA would provide information on any impacts to its Artemis and Moon Base programs.
Earlier this week, NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to deliver rovers to the moon’s surface using its uncrewed cargo lunar lander, Mark 1, as part of NASA’s broader Artemis lunar exploration missions.
Bezos comments
In a separate post on X, Bezos said it was “too early to know the root cause” of the incident.
“Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it,” he said.
