{"id":43218,"date":"2026-05-29T17:20:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/heres-why-the-failure-of-blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-is-so-catastrophic\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:20:38","slug":"heres-why-the-failure-of-blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-is-so-catastrophic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/heres-why-the-failure-of-blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-is-so-catastrophic\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s why the failure of Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket is so catastrophic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday night\u2019s detonation of Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket during a static-fire test produced a spectacular fireball over Florida, sending shards of the rocket flying far and wide, into the sea and across the coastal scrubland nearby.<\/p>\n<p style=\"\">With sunrise on Friday teams from Blue Origin, the US Space Force, and NASA will be able to begin more thoroughly assessing the damage to Blue Origin\u2019s facilities and begin picking up pieces of the rocket.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=2060200612000657777&amp;lang=en&amp;maxWidth=560px&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Farstechnica.com%2Fspace%2F2026%2F05%2Fheres-why-the-failure-of-blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-is-so-catastrophic%2F&amp;partner=tfwp&amp;sessionId=9d3ef9818de3e10c0bb0dfb821663498d6b9e7b4&amp;siteScreenName=arstechnica&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"2060200612000657777\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\" data-twitter-extracted-i1784861995478815417=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"zxx\">pic.twitter.com\/EfYn4QWW9M<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Nick Johnson (@NickJohnson315) May 29, 2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Metaphorically, the effort to pick up pieces will extend far beyond Blue Origin. This launch failure will be devastating not just for Blue Origin but also NASA and broad segments of the US space industry. Here\u2019s a look at some of the major issues that will stem from the explosion.<\/p>\n<h2>No launch pad<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s a reason why, before the very first launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018, SpaceX founder Elon Musk defined success as the vehicle clearing the launch pad. \u201cI hope that it makes it far enough away from the pad that it does not cause pad damage,\u201d he said. \u201cI would consider even that a win to be honest.\u201d Musk had similar thoughts about the first Starship launch, saying he would consider anything that did not destroy the launch mount a \u201cwin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Big rockets produce big explosions. And ground infrastructure is a challenging and underrated component of a rocket launch.<\/p>\n<p>Multiple sources have confirmed that there is significant damage to Blue Origin\u2019s launch site in Florida, LC-36A. The company invested years and at least hundreds of millions of dollars in this facility. The scale of the massive lightning towers is difficult to comprehend unless one has climbed one of them.<\/p>\n<p>The company does not have another launch site for New Glenn. It has begun preliminary work on a nearby pad, LC-36B, and has plans to develop another site at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. But these projects are just getting started.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>Rebuilding the company\u2019s pad, or finishing a new one, will likely take at least a year, even with a major effort by Blue Origin, and drawing upon Jeff Bezos\u2019 nearly infinite resources. One source familiar with pad rebuilds estimated that 15 months was a \u201cbest case\u201d scenario.<\/p>\n<h2>A maturing design<\/h2>\n<p>You might wonder what the big deal is. SpaceX has been blowing up Starship rockets left and right, and the space nerds seem to be cheering them on.<\/p>\n<p>The reality is that Blue Origin took a more traditional design route with New Glenn, as opposed to SpaceX\u2019s iterative design, which seeks to test, fly, fail, and fix hardware. The New Glenn first stage had performed nearly flawlessly during its first three flights. It is a mature design.<\/p>\n<p>Because of this, Blue Origin had reached the point where it was poised to begin near-monthly launches of the vehicle during the second half of the year, serving a variety of customers, from NASA to Amazon, AST SpaceMobile, and its own internal payloads.<\/p>\n<p>With the Vulcan rocket also currently offline due to an anomaly, it once again places all of the US medium- and heavy-lift launch capacity in SpaceX\u2019s basket, with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of Vulcan, if this is a problem with the BE-4 engine\u2014and early indications are that the anomaly leading to Thursday night\u2019s failure originated in the central engine of the booster\u2014it would further compound United Launch Alliance\u2019s difficulties in getting the large rocket back into service.<\/p>\n<h2>Blue Moon Mark 1<\/h2>\n<p>Blue Origin\u2019s cargo lander has emerged as the supreme workhorse of the early stages of NASA\u2019s Artemis program and Moon Base. It has a capacity to deliver up to 3 tons to the lunar surface and would serve as a pathfinder for a larger version of a lander to take humans to the Moon.<\/p>\n<p>This week, NASA announced that its Moon Base I mission would fly on Blue Moon Mark 1, and it awarded Blue Origin $280.4 million to deliver two lunar rovers in 2028. Multiple other missions are planned on the lander, which was designed to be sent to the Moon on a single New Glenn vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>,<\/p>\n<p>Could Blue Moon Mark 1 launch on other rockets? SpaceX\u2019s Falcon Heavy and United Launch Alliance\u2019s Vulcan vehicles both likely have the lift capacity to push the vehicle to the Moon. But Vulcan is also sidelined at present and has a long line of Space Force payloads in the queue. So what of Falcon Heavy?<\/p>\n<p>The Mark 1 lander is powered by the BE-7 engine, which runs on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. There may be compatibility issues related to the Falcon rocket\u2019s kerosene-powered upper stage, although this has not been confirmed. Also, it is unlikely that Blue Origin would partner with a direct rival, SpaceX, in this manner.<\/p>\n<h2>Artemis program<\/h2>\n<p>Due to the Mark 1 issues outlined above, there will either be significant delays to, or the need to restructure the early phases of, the Moon Base program. The lunar rovers under development by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, for example, have a mass of about 1 ton. Only Mark 1 and SpaceX\u2019s Starship have that kind of delivery capacity.<\/p>\n<p>There are also major implications for the main Artemis crewed missions.<\/p>\n<p>NASA recently changed Artemis III to become a mission that will see the Orion spacecraft rendezvous with one or both of the Human Landing Systems under development by Blue Origin (Blue Moon) and SpaceX (Starship) in low-Earth orbit. NASA appears determined to launch this mission in 2027 and plans to announce its four crew members in a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s now all but certain that a Blue Moon lander will not be ready for such a mission within the next 18 months. NASA will need to decide whether to wait on Blue Origin or press ahead solely with a Starship mission.<\/p>\n<p>As for Artemis IV, the lunar landing mission, this failure further complicates that plan. It is difficult to imagine a scenario in which a crew-rated Blue Moon lander is ready at any point in 2028 now. Even if the hardware is far along, Blue Origin still needs to fly test missions with Blue Moon Mark 1, which are on hold indefinitely.<\/p>\n<p>A number of senior NASA officials had come to view Blue Origin\u2019s plan to use a slimmed down version of the Mark 2 lander, which would not require in-space refueling, as the prime option for Artemis IV. Now, like much of the US space industry, NASA finds itself highly dependent on SpaceX\u2019s ability to deliver with Starship.<\/p>\n<p><em>Note: This article has been edited to clarify interoperability issues between the Blue Moon Mark 1 lander and the Falcon Heavy rocket.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thursday night\u2019s detonation of Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket during a static-fire test produced a spectacular fireball over Florida, sending shards of the rocket flying far and wide, into the sea and across the coastal scrubland nearby. With sunrise on Friday teams from Blue Origin, the US Space Force, and NASA will be able to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43218"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}