Blue Origin’s New Glenn explosion is a setback for NASA’s plans for the moon

As Blue Origin investigates the root cause behind the spectacular explosion of its New Glenn rocket last night, it’s already clear that this will be a major setback for NASA’s lunar base plans and Amazon’s startup Leo satellite internet constellation.

The accident occurred at approximately 9 p.m. at Blue Origin’s launch site in Florida during a hot fire test, during which seven engines in the booster stage were lit while keeping the 322-foot rocket stationary on the launch pad. The explosion and ensuing fireball damaged Blue Origin’s only launch pad for its New Glenn rocket.

“It’s too early to know the root cause but we are already working to find it,” Blue Origin’s president wrote. Jeff Bezos on X. “Very tough day, but we will rebuild everything that needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It will be worth it.”

According to the sources talk to Ars TechnicaIt may not be possible to salvage the carrier-composite and one of LC-36A’s lightning towers. “New Glenn will almost certainly not launch again in 2026, and frankly, a launch during the first half of 2027 would be heroic given concerns about the launch site,” wrote Eric Berger, senior space editor at UCLA. Ars Technica.

Such a delay would affect NASA’s plans for the lunar base. NASA announced On Tuesday, New Glenn will deliver a robotic lunar lander by the fall of 2026. In 2027, Blue Origin is also scheduled to participate in the upcoming Artemis 3 mission, which will see astronauts dock their Orion capsule with lunar landers developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.

“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy payload launch capability is extremely difficult.” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said “We will work with our partners to support a comprehensive investigation into this anomaly, evaluate the near-term mission impacts, and return to launching missiles.”

The New Glenn rocket that exploded Thursday night was prepared to carry 48 Amazon Leo satellites — the largest batch ever scheduled for launch — into low Earth orbit on an upcoming mission. The satellites were not on board.

So far, Amazon has launched just over 300 of the 1,618 Leo satellites the FCC requires by July 30, 2026. Amazon has applied for an extension to retain its license.

Amazon was counting on New Glenn’s massive payload capacity and reusable boosters to speed up an already delayed launch schedule. Without a primary backbone, Amazon will be forced to rely more heavily on secondary providers such as United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Arianespace — and its main competitor, SpaceX.

Fellow billionaire Elon Musk wrote on X: “Sorry to see this. Hope you recover quickly.”