A fatal rocket explosion in Florida threatens to delay US President Donald Trump’s grand vision of returning American astronauts to the moon by 2028 and building a lunar base.
One of the rockets that NASA relied on to reach the moon explodedat its launchThursday night – a major setback for Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space company, as it aims to challenge Elon Musk’s SpaceX and create a rocket that can carry cargo and humans into orbit and beyond.
The damage at Cape Canaveral — and the resulting damage to the company’s only launch pad — will require months of extensive repairs. Blue Origin was scheduled to launch the main mission to the moon on its New Glenn rocket this year which is now almost delayed. NASA is trying to build a moon baseAn accelerated Trump timelineand hit China on the moon, and this setback could undermine that effort.
“The devastating explosion that we saw was unprecedented for all of us,” said Rep. Mike Haridopolos, (R-Florida), whose district includes Cape Canaveral. “Obviously this will adjust the schedule, of course, but that’s why we want to do a thorough analysis today and move forward.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew to Cape Canaveral Friday morning to meet with the team at the site, according to the space agency.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy lift launch capabilities is very difficult,” Isaacman saidpost on X. “We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this error, assess the impact of the short-duration mission, and resume the launch of the rocket.”
Blue Origin, when asked for comment, referred to hisPost Xin a wide blast trench.
Predicting exactly what will happen next is difficult, as companies and government officials assess the damage. But the early signs were bad.
With Blue Origin effectively phased out for the foreseeable future, NASA will have to rely on SpaceX. The company last week hadoften a successful launchof his new mega rocket Starship. But it has had its fair share of setbacks and still has a long way to go before reaching NASA’s lunar goals.
The agency relies on private companies such as Blue Origin and SpaceX to develop the technology for the mission, unlike in previous eras when NASA itself did the engineering and development work.
The space agency had hoped to test lunar rovers – which will transport astronauts to the surface of the moon – from both companies next year. The mission, called Artemis III, would test key technologies before NASA attempts to land on the moon in 2028.
It is not yet clear how the explosion will affect Blue Origin’s development, but one former NASA official estimated that the damaged launcher could delay the company’s contribution to the lunar campaign by a year.
“Between the construction of the infrastructure and the investigation and the return of the flight to New Glenn, and the test campaign of Artemis III, there will be a delay of one year,” said the official, who, like others, was granted anonymity to speak openly about the situation.
The Artemis III mission could still go ahead next year if SpaceX is ready. But that would mean NASA is betting big on one company’s unproven technology.
And the timing couldn’t be worse for Blue Origin.
just this week,NASA announcedthat the company’s launch will be an important part of putting the building blocks of the moon base in place. The agency said Blue Origin will launch its unmanned lunar probe, Blue Moon Mark 1, this fall. The company also received a contract to transport two lunar rovers to the surface in 2028 on the Mark 1 lander.
But with Blue Origin’s launch vehicle out of service for months, NASA needs to reconfigure those plans.
“This is a major blow to NASA’s mission of a lunar base,” an industry representative said. “The entire schedule of Moon Base I and II shifts to the right if they can’t bring the vehicle back online.”
Blue Origin is working on a second launch pad in Florida, but it’s unclear if that will be used soon.
After the event, Bezos said in ainformation about Xthat all employees are accounted for and safe.
“A very bad day, but we will rebuild anything that needs to be rebuilt and get back on the fly,” he said. It’s worth it.”
