The video shows the rocket engulfed in flames, followed by a cloud of smoke rising, with onlookers gasping: “Oh no!” and “Oh my God!”
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J. Bezos’s space company “Blue Origin” stated in a brief post on the social network “X” that an “anomaly” occurred during a test at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, and added that “all employees are safe.”
This explosion is another setback for the Amazon CEO in the fierce race among private companies to explore space.
“It’s still too early to know the main cause, but we are already working to find out,” J. Bezos wrote on the social network “X.”
“A very tough day, but we will rebuild whatever needs to be rebuilt and return to flights. It’s worth it,” he said.
The 98 m tall “New Glenn” rocket is at the center of Blue Origin’s space ambitions, especially competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is currently developing the largest rocket in history, “Starship.”
E. Musk expressed condolences, calling the accident “extremely unfortunate.”
This accident occurred just over a month after the “New Glenn” rocket failed to complete a mission to place a communications satellite into the required orbit, prompting an investigation.
Although the company successfully reused and recovered the rocket booster, the unmanned mission did not deploy the “AST SpaceMobile” satellite.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) responded by requiring Blue Origin to conduct an “accident investigation,” which was completed earlier this month.
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“The FAA has approved our NG-3 report, and corrective actions have already been implemented,” Blue Origin announced last week, explaining that due to thermal conditions, one of the rocket engines did not reach full thrust, so it did not reach the target orbit.
“Space flights are unforgiving”
Florida Congressman Mike Haridopolos, whose district includes Cape Canaveral, stated in a post on the social network “X” that he contacted NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman regarding the explosion.
“I am glad no injuries were reported and thank the rescuers, engineers, and launch teams who acted quickly,” said M. Haridopolos.
NASA and Blue Origin jointly developed the lunar landing module for the Artemis Moon missions.
In turn, J. Isaacman said NASA is aware of the explosion.
“Space flights are unforgiving, and creating a new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” he wrote on the social network “X.”
“We will collaborate with partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess the impact on upcoming missions, and return to rocket launches,” he said.
NASA aims to test the docking of spacecraft and one or two lunar landing modules in orbit by 2027 and to conduct a crewed lunar landing by the end of 2028.
However, much remains to be done, and industry experts have repeatedly expressed skepticism about whether Blue Origin and SpaceX will meet these goals on time.
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