The most spectacular rocket explosion since N1 just happened in Florida

Then there is the big Blue Moon Mark 2 lander, which is supposed to fly on a larger and more powerful New Glenn rocket with the first nine engines, known as 9 × 4. NASA is counting on the Mark 2 lander, along with SpaceX’s Starship vehicle, to carry people to the Moon regularly – and soon.

Pad construction is very damaged

It is too early to know the consequences of this failure, but it will be significant. Initial reports from sources indicate that the launch pad at LC-36A has been severely damaged. The source indicated that one of the lightning towers could not be saved, and that the transporter-erector could be damaged beyond repair.

The company recently began construction on a second New Glenn launch site nearby, LC-36B. However, the work is in its early stages. It is possible, however, that the completion of this new platform may be faster than rebuilding the LC-36A. New Glenn almost certainly won’t restart in 2026, and frankly a launch in the middle of the first half of 2027 would be interesting given the site’s concerns.

Blue Origin has been doing a lot of development work on the large 9×4 rocket, which is expected to be the main component of the 7×2 rocket group that exploded Thursday evening in Florida. It is possible that the company is now doing all its efforts to complete the work on this big rocket.

Bezos, who made his fortune from Amazon, has contributed heavily to Blue Origin since its founding a century ago. He has invested billions of dollars in this company. Fortunately for Blue Origin, they have the money to help the company through this failure, and speed up its recovery efforts. NASA, too, will be eager to see Blue Origin back as soon as possible.

If there’s a silver lining, it’s that the rocket that blasted off Thursday night didn’t carry its payload for Amazon’s Leo satellite. They were safe, in a nearby compound, awaiting adoption.