New Glenn rocket exploded on pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
New Glenn rocket exploded on pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
New Glenn rocket exploded on pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday in Brevard County, filling the night sky with fire along Florida’s Space Coast.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Space Force confirmed the rocket exploded at 9 p.m. at Space Launch Complex 36 during a hotfire test, which Blue Origin itself described earlier on social media.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,” Blue Origin’s post states. “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said on social media that work is underway to determine the root cause of the explosion.
All personnel are accounted for and safe. It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement it had received info “that there was a failure of the test firing and an explosion,” adding preliminary reports show no injuries.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket was recently transported to Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of the planned Leo New Glenn 1 launch.
>>Video below: Viewer footage of New Glenn explosion
Chopper 2 was over the charred launchpad on Friday morning.
At least 40 people called 911 in Brevard County, the sheriff’s office said.
Several people said it looked like an atomic bomb had gone off.
Debris from the explosion may wash ashore in publicly accessible areas over the coming days or even weeks.
Congressman Mike Haridopolos, R-Brevard County, said on social media that he had spoken with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and is grateful no injuries were reported.
I’ve already spoken with @NASAAdmin Jared Isaacman regarding the explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket tonight at Kennedy Space Center. I am grateful there were no reported injuries and thankful for the first responders, engineers, and launch crews who acted quickly.… https://t.co/m0IAerHZan
Rep. Haridopolos is the chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. He phoned in to WESH 2 News to discuss the explosion.
>>Video below: Congressman Mike Haridopolos joins WESH 2 News to discuss Blue Origin explosion
We also heard from Titusville Mayor Andrew Connors, who called during our live coverage of the explosion to speak with us.
>>Video below: Titusville Mayor Andrew Connors discusses Blue Origin explosion on WESH 2 News
Space expert Ken Kremer joined WESH 2 News earlier in the night to discuss the explosion as well.
“They were loading propellant into the rocket and they started a static fire test, which is not a launch; the rocket is sitting on the pad and they want to ignite the engines for several seconds to test them all out and make sure everything will work when they do the launch in the next few weeks. That was the plan.” he said.
>>Video below: Space expert Ken Kremer joins WESH 2 News to talk Blue Origin explosion
Both SpaceX and United Launch Alliance successfully launched Falcon 9 and Atlas V rockets, respectively, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday.
The explosion is expected to have a ripple effect on the race to return to the moon.
“This was a terrible setback for NASA and its lunar ambitions,” senior Ars Technica space editor Eric Berger told WESH 2 News. “It’s not unrecoverable, they will find ways to work around it, but it’s a significant setback for them to overcome when they were starting to build some real momentum.”
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets are a key part of the Artemis program, meant to serve as launch vehicles for the company’s lunar landers.
NASA’s target date for the Artemis III launch is in late 2027, but Berger said he expects the extensive damage to Blue Origin’s only launch pad for the New Glenn rocket will cause delays.
“I’m thinking 12 to 18 months, probably, before they have another launch pad ready to go for the rocket,” he said.
Bill Nelson, former NASA administrator and U.S. senator for the state of Florida, shared his thoughts with WESH 2 News the day after the explosion.
“You’re pushing the unknown, you’re pushing new technologies, you just got to be prepared to- whatever goes wrong, go back and fix it,” he said. “(…) What was extremely revealing was your WESH helicopter’s view after the explosion of all of, apparently, the fires that spread around and the damage that’s done to the pad, and that’s going to be a setback of some time.”
Nelson discussed the lengthy investigation ahead and the steps NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman will need to take to figure out what went wrong.
“What Jared will do, as appropriate, is he will make sure that all of that investigation is done into the specifics of what caused the explosion, as well as how much damage there is, and what’s going to be the delay,” Nelson said.
>>Video below: Former NASA administrator Bill Nelson on Blue Origin explosion
>> This is a developing story and will be updated
Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.
Leave a Reply