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Engineers at Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin are trying to figure out why their massive New Glenn rocket exploded on its launchpad last night. The explosion created a huge fireball and blast that could be seen, heard and felt across central Florida. It's a big setback for the multibillion-dollar rocket program, and as Central Florida Public Media's Brendan Byrne reports, it could delay the return of American astronauts to the moon.
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BRENDAN BYRNE, BYLINE: That's what the explosion sounded like miles away from Blue Origin's launch facility at Cape Canaveral, picked up by an independent space media outlet. The New Glenn rocket stands more than 300 feet tall. It has flown successfully into space twice. The company planned to launch it next week. But during a routine engine test Thursday night known as a hot fire, something went wrong.
ROBERT PEARLMAN: The result was a tremendous fireball, looked like a bomb had gone off. And really, that's exactly what happened.
BYRNE: Robert Pearlman is a historian and editor of the news site collectSPACE. The anomaly, as Blue Origin is calling it, created a massive mushroom cloud of fire that lifted into the Florida sky. Blue Origin says that all personnel were accounted for, and there were no injuries. Photos of the launch pad show destruction and twisted metal.
PEARLMAN: But depending on how bad the pad damage is, you could be looking at, you know, anywhere from eight to 12 months if not longer.
BYRNE: Blue Origin will need to conduct extensive repairs of its launch pad, and engineers still need to figure out just what went wrong says Florida Institute of Technology's Don Platt.
DON PLATT: Where is sort of the smoking gun, the culprit for this issue? And then understanding what went wrong - is it under design? Is there a flaw somewhere? Is it a manufacturing defect?
BYRNE: Figuring that out will take time and cause delays. This rocket was supposed to get Amazon's internet satellites into orbit, competition to SpaceX's Starlink network. Not only is this a setback for the company, but for NASA, too. The explosion comes at a time when the agency is chasing the moon once again. Just this week, administrator Jared Isaacman outlined the agency's plan to establish a lunar base.
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JARED ISAACMAN: The grand return is close at hand, and we will not slow down. We are moving with the confidence and the purpose to accomplish the missions that only NASA is capable of achieving, and we are really just getting started.
BYRNE: But that has come to an abrupt stop. Platt says Blue Origin was picked as a contractor to deliver key pieces of that moon base.
PLATT: Operations that rely heavily on Blue Origin and the New Glenn launch vehicle.
BYRNE: Not to mention the company's moon lander. The next crewed Artemis mission was supposed to dock with that lander in Earth orbit next year, a practice run ahead of the Artemis IV mission scheduled in 2028 which would bring humans to the lunar surface. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the U.S. Space Force says potential hazardous debris from the explosion would likely wash up on public beaches. That has some residents of nearby Merritt Island concerned over the potential environmental impact of the accident. Take Lisa Ruckman.
LISA RUCKMAN: It's not common knowledge, anyway, what sort of chemicals were on board. So you don't really know the effects of how it might affect human health or plant or wildlife health.
BYRNE: Blue Origin is also asking people to reach out if they see anything. And in the coming days and weeks, the company will start to piece together what happened to cause the explosion in the first place.
For NPR News, I'm Brendan Byrne in Orlando. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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