FLORIDA: An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on a launchpad in Florida during a test on Thursday, dealing a significant setback to Jeff Bezos’ space venture as it attempts to narrow the gap with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Footage shared by NASA Spaceflight, which livestreams launches from Florida, showed the massive New Glenn rocket igniting on the launchpad at around 9pm ET (6am PKT Friday) before erupting into a huge fireball. The explosion sent towering flames and thick smoke high into the sky.
Blue Origin had been preparing the rocket for its fourth launch mission, which was expected to carry 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low-Earth orbit as part of Amazon’s effort to build a broadband satellite constellation capable of competing with Musk’s Starlink network.
However, according to a source familiar with the matter, the Amazon Leo satellites had not yet been integrated onto the rocket at the time of the explosion. The source requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The incident marks another setback for the long-delayed New Glenn programme, which is intended to play a major role in delivering lunar landers and cargo for Nasa’s Artemis lunar exploration missions.
The explosion came only two days after Nasa awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to land rovers on the moon’s surface. It also followed less than a week after SpaceX carried out a largely successful test of its next-generation Starship rocket, placing additional pressure on Bezos’ company in the growing private space race.
Blue Origin later confirmed that it had experienced an anomaly during a hot-fire test, a procedure in which rocket engines are ignited while the vehicle remains anchored to the ground.
Reacting to the incident, Jeff Bezos wrote in a post on X, “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” He added that it was still too early to determine the exact cause of the explosion.
Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman stated that the space agency would work alongside Blue Origin to support an investigation into the incident.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” Isaacman said in a post on X.
He further noted that Nasa would provide updates regarding any potential impact on its Artemis and Moon Base programmes.
The rivalry between Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin has intensified in recent years as both billionaire-led companies compete to help return humans to the moon before China’s planned crewed lunar mission in 2030. Both firms are developing lunar landers intended for future Nasa missions.
Despite being years ahead in development, SpaceX has also experienced major rocket failures.
In June last year, a Starship spacecraft exploded in a dramatic fireball during testing in Texas while being prepared for a test flight.
More recently, SpaceX achieved partial success during the 12th test flight of a Starship prototype after deploying mock satellites and successfully carrying out a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
However, the company failed to achieve a controlled landing of the Super Heavy booster, which eventually tumbled into the Gulf of Mexico.
Responding to footage of Blue Origin’s explosion, Elon Musk posted on X, “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.”
Blue Origin has spent billions of dollars and nearly a decade developing the New Glenn rocket. Standing 29 stories tall, the rocket features a reusable first stage and is designed to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon rockets as well as its more powerful Starship system.
Meanwhile, the US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that it was aware of the incident but clarified that the event fell outside its regulatory scope and did not affect regional air traffic operations.