The primary stage of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, named ”By no means Inform Me The Odds,” returns to Port Canaveral, United States, on April 19, 2023. The booster is onboard the drone ship Jacklyn, the place it landed after a profitable launch. This marks the primary time Blue Origin is reusing the identical first stage. (Photograph by Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto by way of Getty Photographs)
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A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket dramatically exploded on the launchpad throughout a take a look at on Thursday, in a setback for Jeff Bezos’ area enterprise because it seeks to slender the hole with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Video posted by NASASpaceflight, a YouTube channel that livestreams launches from Florida, confirmed the New Glenn igniting on the pad at about 2100 ET (0200 GMT on Friday) earlier than erupting into a large fireball that billowed skyward, sending a towering plume of flames and smoke into the air.
Blue Origin stated it had skilled an “anomaly”, a time period generally utilized by rocket firms to explain a launch failure or explosion.
“We skilled an anomaly throughout at the moment’s hotfire take a look at. All personnel have been accounted for. We’ll present updates as we be taught extra,” the corporate stated in a publish on X.
A hot-fire take a look at is the place a rocket engine is fired up whereas anchored to the bottom.
In a separate X publish, Bezos stated it was “too early to know the basis trigger” of the incident.
“Very tough day, however we’ll rebuild no matter wants rebuilding and get again to flying. It is price it,” he stated.
Blue Origin stated on Wednesday it was making ready the New Glenn rocket to launch 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low-Earth orbit, a part of efforts to construct a broadband constellation to rival Musk’s Starlink community. It didn’t present a launch date.
Blue Origin has spent billions of {dollars} and roughly a decade growing New Glenn, a rocket 29-stories excessive with a reusable first stage meant to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon fleet and its extra highly effective Starship.
Musk responded on X to a video of the New Glenn explosion, saying: “Most unlucky. Rockets are laborious.”
The Federal Aviation Administration didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark.
