Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin rocket explodes during test
What's the story
Jeff Bezos's space company, Blue Origin, suffered a major setback when its New Glenn mega-rocket exploded during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The explosion occurred just before an anticipated fourth launch of the new rocket in the coming weeks. Blue Origin took to X to confirm that all personnel involved in the test have been accounted for. The company described the incident as an "anomaly" but did not say what exactly went wrong during the test.
Program pause
Setback for Blue Origin's New Glenn program
The explosion has put a question mark on the future of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket program. The company had planned up to 12 launches of this new rocket this year, after spending nearly a decade and billions developing it to take on Elon Musk's SpaceX. The incident also comes just weeks after the third-ever flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn, which failed to deliver a satellite for AST SpaceMobile into orbit.
Investigation underway
Bezos promises to fix the issue, get back to flying
Post-explosion, Bezos tweeted that it was too early to determine the root cause but they were already working on it. He added that despite this rough day, they would rebuild whatever needed rebuilding and get back to flying. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also acknowledged the "anomaly" at Launch Complex 36 and promised a thorough investigation into the explosion.
Regulatory response
FAA clarifies on test explosion
The FAA clarified that the test at Cape Canaveral was not "within the scope of FAA licensed activities." However, they assured there was no impact on air traffic due to this incident. The New Glenn rocket was preparing for an upcoming launch to carry 48 satellites for Amazon's internet constellation.