Blue Origin Blew Up Its Only Launch Pad and Amazon Is Left Scrambling

Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad in Florida on Thursday during a routine pre-flight test, just days before it was supposed to launch 48 satellites for Amazon’s internet constellation.

The company confirmed it “experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire,” a test where the rocket is fuelled up and engines are fired before an actual launch. Nobody was hurt, but the damage was extensive. Multiple employees told the Financial Times the blast caused severe damage to Blue Origin’s only launch pad, including a lightning tower and the equipment used to lift rockets into position.

Bezos acknowledged the setback on X. “Very rough day,” he posted, “but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
Elon Musk also weighed in. “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard,” he posted, in what might be the most understated response of the year given SpaceX is Blue Origin’s biggest competitor.

Blue Origin had planned 12 New Glenn launches this year as it tries to close the gap on SpaceX, which is expecting to launch a record IPO next month, possibly at a valuation of $1.8 billion US. Amazon has paid Blue Origin $2.7 billion US to help launch its Leo satellite constellation and is counting on it to meet regulatory deadlines.

What does this mean? Any customers of Bezos’ Blue Origin have no choice but to head to SpaceX for its next launches.

This is the second major setback for New Glenn in recent months. In April the rocket deployed a satellite for AST SpaceMobile at too low an altitude, causing the satellite to fail. US regulators grounded the rocket before clearing it for flight just last week, a turnaround that surprised analysts who expected it to be out of action for months.

Blue Origin was also awarded $468 million by NASA this week for two uncrewed lunar landers as part of US plans to return people to the Moon by 2028. NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency would work with Blue Origin to “support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts and get back to launching rockets.”