{"id":46487,"date":"2026-07-01T01:56:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-decides-not-to-re-create-ruined-pad-but-will-move-on-to-a-different-launch-concept\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T01:56:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:56:28","slug":"blue-origin-decides-not-to-re-create-ruined-pad-but-will-move-on-to-a-different-launch-concept","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-decides-not-to-re-create-ruined-pad-but-will-move-on-to-a-different-launch-concept\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin decides not to re-create ruined pad but will move on to a different launch concept"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" loading=\"eager\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1207\" height=\"805\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-blue.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-936039\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-blue.jpg 1207w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/260630-blue-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1207px) 100vw, 1207px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">A tarnished \u201cRoad to Space\u201d sign stands near Blue Origin\u2019s damaged launch pad in Florida. (Blue Origin Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One month after a New Glenn rocket explosion damaged its Florida launch pad, Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture has decided to shift its focus to a new concept for future launches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo return to flight this year, we\u2019re not rebuilding the same pad,\u201d Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in an online update. Instead, the company will move ahead with a plan that it already had been working on for Cape Canaveral Space Force Station\u2019s Launch Complex 36.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concept of operations, or ConOps in rocket lingo, calls for a hybrid horizontal\/vertical configuration for launch preparations. Blue Origin had already planned to employ the hybrid system for a second pad that\u2019s currently in development for its super-sized 9\u00d74 New Glenn rocket. Now the system will be used for the old pad as well as the new one, \u201ccreating a common ConOps across two pads,\u201d Limp said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a post to X, Limp said the plan \u201chas the added benefit of increasing our flight cadence.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We&#8217;re&nbsp;not rebuilding the same pad for New Glenn.&nbsp;We&#8217;re moving to&nbsp;a horizontal\/vertical hybrid configuration&nbsp;to get us flying again this year at 36A. &nbsp;We were already working on something similar for 9\u00d74 at 36B. Let me explain what that means. We mate the stages horizontally in\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/5I0f8GEojs<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dave Limp (@davill) June 30, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The explosion on May 28, which took place while Blue Origin was preparing its New Glenn rocket to launch 48 satellites for the Amazon Leo constellation, dealt a heavy blow to Blue Origin\u2019s launch plans. The Federal Aviation Administration called a halt to launches until Blue Origin traced the cause of the blast and took corrective actions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In today\u2019s update, Limp said \u201cearly analysis points to the aft section of the first stage\u201d as the source of the anomaly. He voiced confidence that the root cause would be found and fixed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the blast destroyed the pad\u2019s lightning tower, transporter-erector and hydraulic cylinders, \u201cbut we caught a lot of breaks, too, and intend to make the most of them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Limp reported that the launch complex\u2019s Integration Facility, tank farm, vehicle access tower and water tower were all in good shape, and that reconstruction of the pad has started. Blue Origin has moved three New Glenn upper stages and a twice-flown booster nicknamed \u201cNever Tell Me the Odds\u201d out of the Integration Facility as part of the pad cleanup process, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blue Origin\u2019s launch manifest includes missions aimed at sending an uncrewed Blue Moon Mark 1 lander to the lunar surface, putting a more advanced Mark 2 lander into Earth orbit for crewed testing during NASA\u2019s Artemis 3 mission, and delivering several rovers to the moon. New Glenn is also in the lineup to launch satellites for Amazon Leo and AST SpaceMobile.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Limp said Blue Origin is \u201ccontinuing to build vehicles at rate in our world-class manufacturing facilities,&nbsp;maintaining&nbsp;flight readiness, and preparing to come back stronger than before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur road to space&nbsp;doesn\u2019t&nbsp;pause here. We will return to flight by the end of this year,\u201d he wrote.&nbsp;\u201cIt\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A tarnished \u201cRoad to Space\u201d sign stands near Blue Origin\u2019s damaged launch pad in Florida. (Blue Origin Photo) One month after a New Glenn rocket explosion damaged its Florida launch pad, Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture has decided to shift its focus to a new concept for future launches. \u201cTo return to flight this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[509,510],"class_list":["post-46487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-new-glenn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46487"}],"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=46487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}