Bezos-Owned Rocket Explodes, And It Looks Like A Nuclear Bomb Went Off

A Blue Origin rocket exploded Thursday night in Florida, causing immense damage to its billion-dollar launch pad and complicating NASA’s plans to build a base on the moon. 

The explosion rocked Blue Origin’s launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as the space company ran a ground test on one of its rockets. The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined. 

“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more,” Blue Origin said on social media. 

Videos posted online showed a rocket sitting on the launch pad before becoming completely engulfed in flames after a massive explosion. 

Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Blue Origin, said it was too early to know what prompted the explosion. 

“All personnel are accounted for and safe. It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Jeff Bezos said. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”

“Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly,” said Elon Musk, who runs the rival space exploration company SpaceX. 

“Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard,” Musk added.

Blue Origin was preparing to send out 48 low-Earth orbit satellites used by Amazon Leo, a high-speed internet provider rival of Musk’s Starlink. The satellites were set to be carried out by Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, a heavy-lift rocket designed to be reusable. The rocket was named after American astronaut John Glenn. 

The explosion did extensive damage to Blue Origin’s Launch Complex 36. The launch complex cost more $1 billion to build and was completed in 2021. Costs from New Glenn have been estimated to be around $68 million per launch, according to Space Insider. 

Space Force issued a statement on Thursday warning the public that debris from the explosion may wash up on the shores in the next few days and weeks. It warned people not to touch the materials, but alert the authorities. 

The explosion could impact NASA plans for space exploration as Blue Origin was set to be involved in transporting NASA astronauts to the surface of the moon out of lunar orbit. NASA is supposed to test its spacecraft integration with landers from Blue Origin and SpaceX for the Artemis III mission. 

“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. “We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.
We will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available.” 

Space Force issued a statement on Thursday warning the public that debris from the explosion may wash up on shore in the next few days and weeks. It warned people not to touch the materials and to alert the authorities.