In a major blow to billionaire Jeff Bezos as he competes with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, an uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on a Florida launchpad in the US.
The explosion comes amid growing competition in space exploration between Bezos and Musk, as his SpaceX is moving toward an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Bezos’ Blue Origin was preparing the rocket for its fourth launch, scheduled to deliver 48 Amazon Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites. This launch was to build a broadband constellation to rival Musk’s Starlink network.
The Amazon LEO satellites were not integrated on the rocket when it exploded, reports said, claiming the accident marked the latest setback for the long-delayed New Glenn that would play a central role in delivering lunar landers and cargo under NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration missions.
Only two days ago, NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188-million contract to land rovers on the moon’s surface. A week ago, SpaceX carried out a largely successful test of its next-generation Starship rocket, which is years ahead in development than Blue Origin.
Bezos’ company confirmed it had experienced an “anomaly” during a hot-fire test, when 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 on X, Musk-owned social media platform. He claimed it was too early to know what caused the explosion.
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 added that NASA would provide information on any impacts to its Artemis and Moon Base programmes
Musk responded on X to a video of the Blue Origin explosion, saying, “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.”
Blue Origin had spent billions of dollars and roughly a decade developing New Glenn, a rocket 29-stories high with a reusable first stage meant to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon fleet and its more powerful Starship.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of the incident, but it was outside its investigation scope and did not impact air traffic in the region.