Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded in a massive fireball while undergoing a static-fire test on a Florida launchpad Thursday evening, dealing a major setback to the Jeff Bezos-backed firm in its efforts to challenge a dominant SpaceX.
The firm was preparing the vehicle for its fourth launch, which was slated to deploy a batch of satellites for Amazon.com Inc.’s Leo, a rival satellite network to SpaceX’s Starlink. None of the satellites were on the rocket when it exploded, a spokesperson for Amazon said.
Blue Origin's New Glenn just blew up at LC-36 while attempting to Static Fire ahead of NG-4.https://t.co/tANS0dWyIHpic.twitter.com/PztxFoBqIw
Blue Origin said the rocket experienced an “anomaly” during the test. All personnel have been accounted for and are safe, the company said.
We experienced an anomaly during today's hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.
Commenting on the explosion, which raised the valuation of SpaceX by tens of billions as one of its biggest competitors just saw its launch vehicle end up in a massive fireball, Elon said the event was "most unfortunate. Rockets are hard."
Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.
New Glenn, which is key to Blue Origin’s plans for space exploration, is years behind schedule and has faced longer-than-expected waiting periods between flights. The explosion is the latest blow to its reputation as a reliable alternative to SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
The rocket is set to serve a key role in NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send humans back to the moon. It is also one of an elite group of vehicles that is supposed to deliver the most critical US national security satellites for the Pentagon.
All personnel are accounted for and safe. It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.
Source: ZeroHedge News
