Blue Origin Rocket Explosion Threatens U.S. Return to the Moon

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of liquid oxygen, hydrogen and methane erupted at 9:00 p.m. EDT last night at Launch Complex 36 on the grounds of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, when a New Glenn rocket built by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin blew apart during a test of its seven first-stage engines.

The fireball utterly destroyed the 322-ft. rocket and partly wrecked the launch complex. Bezos posted that all personnel are accounted for and safe and that it is too early to know the root cause. The blast is a serious complication for NASA’s Artemis moon program, which depends heavily on both Blue Origin and SpaceX.

John Logsdon, founder of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute, said NASA has planned Artemis on a “success-oriented” schedule and that the accident “throws a monkey wrench” into an already ambitious timetable. SpaceX’s Starship upper stage has been chosen as the Human Landing System but remains behind schedule and not yet operational, while Blue Origin has been developing its own lander, Blue Moon Mark II.

United States, Cape Canaveral, Florida

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