{"id":1000514,"date":"2026-06-02T13:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1000514\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T13:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T13:12:15","slug":"blue-origin-regains-access-to-launch-pad-after-new-glenn-explosion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1000514\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin regains access to launch pad after New Glenn explosion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blue Origin officials have been able to get a closer look in recent days at the site where the company’s towering New Glenn rocket exploded<\/a> in a dramatic fireball that rocked Florida.<\/p>\n

The explosion occurred as Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight<\/a> company prepared to use the rocket to launch a batch of satellites into low-Earth orbit for Amazon, which the billionaire also founded. While the rocket was completely destroyed, it’s the damage to the launch pad itself in Cape Canaveral that has officials the most concerned<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not only was a New Glenn rocket due in 2026 to launch from the site to send an uncrewed lander to the lunar surface for NASA, but it would have been part of a critical test flight in 2027 known as Artemis III<\/a> to set the stage for a human moon landing.<\/p>\n

Because Blue Origin has nowhere else to launch<\/a> New Glenn as of now, determining just how much work is ahead in repairing the site will have enormous implications for not only its commercial partners, but the pace of NASA’s Artemis moon missions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NASA releases thousands more Artemis II photos. Here are the best.<\/p>\n

1 of 15<\/p>\n

NASA released thousands of new photos taken during the Artemis II mission around the moon. The astronauts selected for the mission thoroughly documented the 10-day voyage, which included an April 6 lunar flyby as they traveled more than a quarter-million miles from Earth.<\/p>\n

(Provided by NASA)<\/p>\n

Here’s what to know so far in the aftermath of the late-May explosion.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin regains access to launch pad after New Glenn explosion<\/p>\n

Blue Origin officials have regained access to the launch pad in Florida to begin surveying the extent of the damage resulting from when one of its rockets exploded May 28<\/a> during a prelaunch test.<\/p>\n

Standing at 322 feet tall, the New Glenn rocket is a heavy-lift launch vehicle<\/a> designed to transport a variety of commercial and civil payloads \u2013 like satellites \u2013 to orbit.<\/p>\n

Ground teams were performing an important test known as a hot fire in preparation for what would have been New Glenn’s fourth flight<\/a> when the rocket exploded in a violent fireball widely seen around Florida. No one was injured, but the explosion completely destroyed the fully stacked rocket, composed of both a first-stage booster that provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff, as well as a second-stage vehicle designed to fly in orbit.<\/p>\n

After beginning assessments<\/a> Saturday, May 30, company leaders are only now getting a full picture of the damage to Launch Complex 36 \u2013 a site at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station that Blue Origin previously invested $1 billion to rebuild.<\/p>\n

A cause has not yet been determined.<\/p>\n

Explosion during hotfire test of Blue Origin New Glenn rocket. See the impact<\/p>\n

1 of 7<\/p>\n

A Blue Origin<\/a> rocket has exploded<\/a> on the launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 320-foot New Glenn rocket was undergoing an engine “hotfire test” on Thursday, May 28, ahead of an upcoming launch of 48 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit. A target launch date had not been announced.<\/p>\n

(Malcolm Denemark,FLORIDA TODAY)NASA head Jared Isaacman visits site of Blue Origin explosion<\/p>\n

Jared Isaacman, the administrator of NASA<\/a>, also visited the site of the Blue Origin explosion to assist in surveying the extent of the damage to the launch site.<\/p>\n

Isaacman said in a post<\/a> on social media site X that he spent time talking with billionaire Jeff Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, as well as Dave Limp, the spaceflight company’s CEO.<\/p>\n

“I appreciated the opportunity to hear directly from those working through the aftermath and better understand the challenges ahead,” Isaacman said in the post.<\/p>\n

NASA had been relying on the New Glenn rocket for missions under its Artemis campaign, which seeks to return astronauts to the moon and construct a lunar outpost<\/a> to enable a longterm presence.<\/p>\n

The rocket not only was due to launch Blue Origin’s uncrewed lunar lander<\/a> to the moon later in 2026, but was due to be part of a crewed mission known as Artemis III. Slated for 2027, that mission entails NASA launching a crew of astronauts to Earth orbit, where they would dock with one or both commercial lunar landers being developed by both Blue Origin and Elon Musk<\/a>‘s SpaceX.<\/p>\n

While the astronauts would launch in an Orion capsule atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, Blue Origin was due to use its New Glenn rocket to transport its lander to orbit, while SpaceX would use its Starship<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Isaacman acknowledged that much work is ahead, but reaffirmed NASA’s commitment to helping Blue Origin recover from the disaster and get Blue Origin launching again.<\/p>\n

“America\u2019s greatest achievements in space were never the result of avoiding setbacks,” Isaacman said. “They came from overcoming them.”<\/p>\n

Damage to Blue Origin Launch Complex 36 as seen from the air<\/p>\n

1 of 10<\/p>\n

Aerials of damage to Blue Origin\u2019s facilities at Launch Complex 36 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL May 29, 2026. The New Glenn rocket exploded during a fueling test. <\/p>\n

(Craig Bailey, FLORIDA TODAY)Some important hardware, infrastructure spared from damage<\/p>\n

Limp has also noted some good news: Rocket hardware stored in the nearby integration facility appear undamaged, including another first-stage booster used in two previous missions and three second stages.<\/p>\n

Some infrastructure was also undamaged, including the propellant farm where the rocket’s fuel is stored and distributed, as well as the water tower critical for sound suppression and fire prevention during launch, Limp said in his latest update<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n

While Limp noted that the launch tower that supports the rocket when it\u2019s vertical is damaged, he said, “it can be repaired in place rather than torn down and replaced.”<\/p>\n

Blue Origin CEO says New Glenn will fly before end of 2026<\/p>\n

The New Glenn rocket had been due to fly as early as the first week of June on its fourth mission after a January 2025 debut. The flight would have been the first time Blue Origin launched the rocket to deliver a batch of Amazon Leo satellites for a constellation aiming to compete with the likes of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet business.<\/p>\n

Because Blue Origin had not integrated that payload prior to the hot fire test, those satellites were unharmed in the explosion. But because no other launch facilities in the U.S. are built to accommodate a New Glenn launch, that mission \u2013 and others using the rocket \u2013 are indefinitely postponed.<\/p>\n

“We will fly again before the end of this year,” Limp promised, adding the Latin phrase “Gradatim Ferociter,” meaning “step by step, ferociously.”<\/p>\n

Blue Origin launches New Glenn rocket. See photos of Florida liftoff<\/p>\n

1 of 10<\/p>\n

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket is prepared April 18 for launch at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for its third launch. The giant rocket carried the AST SpaceMobile\u2019s BlueBird 7satellite into low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n

(Joe Skipper\/Reuters)Blue Origin explosion detected on Richter Scale as earthquake<\/p>\n

When the New Glenn rocket exploded, it created a shockwave not unlike an earthquake<\/a> that could be felt as far as 135 miles away, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0report<\/a> from the USGS National Earthquake Information Center\u00a0showed that three separate seismographic stations, which are used for detecting earthquakes, detected the explosion, the farthest of which was in Clearwater, Florida.<\/p>\n

The shockwave resulting from the explosion also measured 2.5 on the Richter scale. Though it produced seismographic activity, the explosion can’t technically be classified as an earthquake since it was above ground.<\/p>\n

Contributing: Brooke Edwards<\/a>, FLORIDA TODAY<\/p>\n

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin assesses damage after explosion. The latest<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blue Origin officials have been able to get a closer look in recent days at the site where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1000515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3844],"tags":[10111,11617,874,103738,70,413,16,15],"class_list":["post-1000514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-blue-origin","tag-jared-isaacman","tag-nasa","tag-new-glenn","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116680690788938978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1000515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}