The explosion of a New Glenn rocket from the company Blue Origin, this Thursday (28), could impact the missions of the Artemis program, which aims to take man to the Moon and the construction of a lunar base in the coming years. The accident occurred at Cape Canaveral, NASA’s launch center, located in Florida.
The company was doing it, according to the company no one was injured. According to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration, in free translation) the accident did not impact air traffic and confirmed that the test was not within the scope of activities licensed by the FAA.
NASA says it will work with billionaire Jeff Bezos’ company to investigate the anomaly and assess the short-term impacts. Still during the positioning, the North American space agency also claimed that it will soon provide information on possible impact on future launches, such as the construction of the lunar base, recently presented by the company.
Authorities will investigate the real damage to the infrastructure of the Kennedy Space Center, home to the explosion site.
READ ALSO: “Very regrettable”: Elon Musk speaks out after Bezos’ rocket explodes
New Glenn
The rocket is almost 100 meters (98) high and was inaugurated in 2025. The name is in honor of astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.
Last April, the rocket, almost 100 meters high, took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA). The , recovered by the company of American billionaire Jeff Bezos, allowed the launch, carried out at 7:25 am (8:25 am Brasília time), to transport a communications satellite for the company AST SpaceMobile.
After liftoff, the two stages of the rocket separated and the upper stage continued the journey taking the satellite into space. The booster successfully landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean almost nine minutes and thirty seconds after takeoff.
Video of the Aerial view of New Glenn exploding from Orlando Airport
— Alex Quinn (@ItsAlexQuinn)
READ ALSO: Space race: Bezos’ rocket intensifies dispute with Musk; see landing
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The explosion occurred at about 9 p.m. ET. Blue Origin said there were no injuries from the incident.— Law Abiding Citizen (@CCm47283024348)
Here’s our video of the explosion at Launch Complex 36. It happened about 9 pm ET (0100 UTC) as Blue Origin was beginning a static fire test of its New Glenn rocket.
Watch live views:
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow)
Space dispute
NASA’s Artemis program seeks a private partner for the space mission to land a man on the Moon again. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX compete for this spot.
According to astronautics expert Pedro Pallota, during a recent interview with CNN Prime Timand although Blue Origin is older (founded in the 2000s) than SpaceX (created in 2002), Elon Musk’s company has a much more aggressive approach and a significant advantage in terms of experience.
“SpaceX has been launching orbital rockets since 2007. It has had its successes there for much longer. The fact that SpaceX already has much more of what we call flight heritage, that is, much more knowledge, puts it much ahead”, he stated.
In terms of orbital mass, SpaceX is responsible for more than 90% of everything put into space, which could be considered a monopoly.
Furthermore, the specialist recalls that Musk’s company is developing Starship, the largest rocket in the world in terms of power, height and mass, which works with a fully reusable system – where nothing that flies is discarded.
*With information from Reuters and Helena Barra
