Blue Origin Rocket Explodes in Fiery Setback

History of Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night during a test fire at the launch site, lighting up the sky around the launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In a post on X, Blue Origin the initiator Jeff Bezos he said that all the workers were accounted for.

“It’s too early to know what’s causing it, but we’re already working to find it,” Bezos said he wrote. “It’s a very difficult day, but we will rebuild everything we need and resume the flight.”

What is a Hotfire Test?

The test in which the Blue Origin rocket – a vehicle that, at a height of 98 meters, is one of the largest that has ever exploded – is called a hotfire test, or a static fire test. Instead, it’s a process that happens on rocket engines, spacecraft, or prototypes, where the engines burn for a very short time and shut down while the vehicle is safe to begin with. The purpose of this test is to ensure that the machine is working properly before opening it.

Blue Origin’s rocket

This would be the fourth mission of the New Glenn rocket, which was supposed to carry 48 satellites, which were supposed to be part of the Amazon Leo satellite network, next week. “NASA is aware of the problems that occurred tonight at Launch Complex 36 involving Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. post at X. “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new capabilities to carry heavy payloads is extremely difficult. We will work with our partners to help explore these challenges, evaluate the near misses, and get back to launching rockets.”

Isaacman also said that NASA will provide an update on what will happen to the Artemis and Moon Base missions once they are available; the organization has done partnership with both Blue Origin and SpaceX on various aspects of its plans to return to the moon.

This explosion represents the latest comeback for Bezos’ company. On April 19, a failure occurred during the third rocket flight that prompted an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). During the mission, the first stage of the rocket successfully landed on the floating platform, but the upper, or second, stage was unable to carry its payload – AS SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite – to safety. The investigation was only completed on May 22.

This article appeared first WIRED Italy and translated from Italian.