Key facts
- Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded during a static-fire test in May.
- The company's CEO stated the explosion was triggered by an issue with a BE-4 engine.
- The incident caused significant damage to Blue Origin's launch site, LC-36A.
- Blue Origin plans to return the New Glenn rocket to flight later this year.
- Rebuilding or completing a new launch pad is expected to take at least 15 months.
A massive explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket in May was triggered by an issue with one of the rocket's BE-4 engines, the company's CEO said. The incident produced a spectacular fireball over Florida, sending debris across the sea and coastal areas. Teams from Blue Origin, the US Space Force, and NASA are assessing the damage to Blue Origin's facilities.
Significant damage has been reported to Blue Origin's launch site in Florida, LC-36A, which the company invested years and hundreds of millions of dollars in. Blue Origin does not have another launch site for New Glenn and has begun preliminary work on a nearby pad, LC-36B, with plans for another site at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These projects are in their early stages.
Rebuilding the company's pad or finishing a new one is estimated to take at least a year, with one source familiar with pad rebuilds suggesting 15 months as a best-case scenario, even with significant resources from Jeff Bezos. Unlike SpaceX's iterative design approach with Starship, Blue Origin took a more traditional design route with New Glenn.