What’s Next for Blue Origin After Rocket Explosion - The New York Times
Technology|Blue Origin and Amazon Had Momentum. Then Came the Fireball.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/29/technology/blue-origin-amazon-rocket-explosion.html<br>Share full article
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For years, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket company operated in secrecy, overshadowed by the success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.<br>But in the past year, it was gaining momentum, getting closer to reliably launching a gigantic rocket, called New Glenn. It was supposed to give the entire space industry much-needed capacity to lift satellites and other equipment into space.<br>NASA gave the rocket a vote of confidence earlier this week with a bigger role in the agency’s Artemis return-to-the-moon program, and Amazon had 48 of its satellites ready to hitch a ride into orbit in its race to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink internet service.<br>Then, around 9 p.m. on Thursday, New Glenn erupted into a fireball on its launchpad during a test.<br>“This is a big, collective gasp and setback,” said Chad Anderson, a start-up investor at the venture capital firm Space Capital.
The delays from the explosion will hit Blue Origin and its customers, including Amazon and NASA, just as SpaceX is nearing a much-hyped initial public offering that could value the company at more than $1.25 trillion.<br>Had the rocket exploded in the air, the failure could have been almost routine, but the explosion badly damaged the launchpad. At least one massive steel tower appeared to be essentially gone, and there are questions about the state of the tangle of hydraulics and fueling systems that run below the concrete pad and through the area.
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