Shafaqna Pakistan: An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on a Florida launchpad during a test on Thursday, marking a significant setback for Jeff Bezos’ space company as it attempts to close the gap with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Footage shared by NASASpaceflight, which livestreams rocket launches from Florida, showed the New Glenn vehicle igniting on the pad at around 2100 ET (0100 GMT on Friday) before erupting into a large fireball that sent flames and smoke rising into the sky.
Blue Origin had been preparing the rocket for its fourth launch, which was expected to deploy 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low-Earth orbit as part of Amazon’s plan to build a broadband network competing with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.
The explosion marks the latest setback for the long-delayed New Glenn, which is supposed to play a central role in delivering lunar landers and cargo under NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration missions.
It comes just two days after NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to land rovers on the moon’s surface, and less than a week after SpaceX, years ahead in development, carried out a largely successful test of its next-generation Starship rocket.
Blue Origin confirmed it had experienced an “anomaly” during a hot-fire test, where a rocket engine is fired up while anchored to the ground.
“Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it,” Bezos said in a post on X, adding that it was too early to know the root cause.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency would work with Blue Origin to support an investigation of the incident.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” Isaacman said on X.
Isaacman also added that NASA would provide information on any impacts to its Artemis and Moon Base programs.
Source: Express Tribune
