Space exploration is filled with setbacks, but the spectacular explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on Thursday night marked a significant blow to not only the company, which was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, but also NASA, with the two collaborating for the upcoming US Moon missions.
"Spaceflight is unforgiving," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a post on X soon after the explosion, promising to "support a thorough investigation of this anomaly," which happened during a ground test and resulted in no injuries.
The rocket -- which stands 98 meters (321 feet) tall and is the most powerful in Blue Origin's fleet -- exploded around 9:00 pm local time Thursday (0100 GMT Friday).
It was undergoing a ground test in Cape Canaveral, Florida in preparation of an upcoming flight when it blew up in a massive fireball, sending shockwaves throughout the space industry.
While anomalies during ground tests are relatively frequent, such explosions are rare, and the magnitude of the blast caused significant damage not only to the spacecraft but the launch pad itself, according to photos of the aftermath released Friday.
"It will take some time to rebuild their pad," Florida congressman Mike Haridopolos, whose district includes Cape Canaveral, told broadcaster Fox News on Friday.
Blue Origin declined an AFP request for additional details on the incident, extent of damage or the ongoing investigation, which is conducted alongside NASA and the US Space Force.
The New Glenn rocket will remain grounded while the investigation is conducted.
- Moon Mission -
The vessel is at the heart of Blue Origin's ambition and NASA's Artemis lunar program, and could have implications for the company's role going forward.
"I have no doubt they will recover but I'm wondering how does this affect Artemis," Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP.
NASA has also tasked rival space exploration company SpaceX to develop lunar landers for transporting astronauts and equipment to the surface of the Moon to establish a base.
SpaceX has seen its own challenges in recent months, and Blue Origin had emerged as a promising alternative for NASA, with the US space agency awarding a new contract to it for the lunar mission earlier this week.
- Major setback -
But these projects depend on the New Glenn rocket, and with its explosion coming shortly after a malfunction causing a satellite mission failure last month, the anomalies could disrupt NASA's tight mission schedule.
NASA is aiming to test an in-orbit rendezvous between a spacecraft and one or two lunar landers in 2027 as part of Artemis III, and carry out a crewed lunar landing before the end of 2028, before the end of US President Donald Trump's time in office.
Thursday's explosion also deals a major setback to another Bezos project, the Amazon Leo satellite internet constellation, which seeks to compete with SpaceX's Starlink but relies on the New Glenn rocket, among others, to launch its satellites, according to Swope.
The Blue Origin rocket blowing up is not the only time an explosion has rocked Cape Canaveral.
Ten years ago, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blew up during a ground test before launching, destroying a $200 million satellite it was supposed to carry.
