Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket suffered a catastrophic explosion during a static fire test, destroying its primary launch pad and raising significant doubts about its return-to-flight timeline. The incident jeopardizes critical contracts with NASA for the Artemis program and commercial ventures like Amazon's Project Leo, while also impacting United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket due to shared BE-4 engine technology.
Background
The New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin, designed to compete with SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and support NASA's Artemis moon landing missions. The BE-4 engine used in New Glenn is also utilized by ULA's Vulcan Centaur rocket.
- Source
- Ars Technica
- Published
- Jun 30, 2026 at 09:15 PM
- Score
- 9.0 / 10