The Blue Origin rocket explodes in a fiery setback

Blue Origin New Glenn rocket It exploded Thursday night during a hot fire test on the launch pad, lighting up the skies around the launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida. In a post on X, Blue original founder Jeff Bezos He said all employees were accounted for.

“It is too early to know the root cause but we are already working to find it,” Bezos said books. “Very tough day, but we will rebuild everything that needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It will be worth it.”

What is Hotfire Testing?

The test during which the Blue Origin rocket — a 98-meter tall vehicle, one of the largest rockets ever built — exploded is known as the hot fire test, or static fire test. Basically, it is a standard procedure performed on rocket engines, spacecraft or prototypes, where the engines are ignited for a very short period and then turned off while the vehicle remains secured on the launch pad. The purpose of this test is to verify that the systems are working properly before the actual launch.

Blue Origin rocket

This was the fourth mission for the New Glenn rocket, which was scheduled to carry 48 satellites and is scheduled to become part of Amazon’s Leo satellite internet network as soon as next week. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a press conference: “NASA is aware of the anomaly that occurred tonight at Launch Complex 36, which includes Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.” mail “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing a new launch capability for heavy payloads is extremely difficult. We will work with our partners to support a comprehensive investigation of this anomaly, evaluate near-term mission impacts, and return to launching rockets.”

Isaacman also said that NASA will provide updates on any potential impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base missions when they are available; The agency has Both were contracted to Blue Origin and SpaceX for various aspects of its plans to return to the moon.

The explosion represents the latest setback for Bezos’ company. On April 19, a malfunction occurred during the rocket’s third flight, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch an investigation. During that mission, the rocket’s first stage successfully landed on a floating platform, but the upper, or second, stage failed to carry its payload — AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite — into a safe orbit. This investigation was just completed on May 22nd.

This story originally appeared on Wired Italy It was translated from Italian.