Blue Origin | Pakistan

Blue Origin faces a months-long setback after the explosion of a rocket damaged its launch pad, company and industry sources said, scrambling schedules for Amazon satellite launches and bolstering SpaceX’s dominance in the commercial launch market. The mishap, which occurred during a test fire of the engines for the New Glenn rocket’s launch next week, comes at a critical time for Jeff Bezos’ business empire. His companies Blue Origin and Amazon are seeking to establish themselves as viable challengers in the heavy-lift and global satellite internet network industries, competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Thursday’s setback could also complicate Nasa’s lunar ambitions. A Blue Origin booster called “No, It’s Necessary” — a nod to a line from the film Interstellar — was wrecked in the incident on Thursday. The launch pad was “practically destroyed” and engineers expect at least a six-month disruption, if not longer, said a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named because they are not authorised to...

An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on a Florida launchpad during a test on Thursday, in a major setback for Jeff Bezos space venture as it seeks to narrow the gap with Elon Musk’s IPO-bound SpaceX. Video posted by NASASpaceflight, which livestreams launches from Florida, showed the towering New Glenn rocket igniting on the pad at about 9pm ET (6am PKT on Friday) before erupting into a massive fireball that billowed skyward, sending a towering plume of flames and smoke into the air. Blue Origin was preparing the rocket for its fourth launch, which was due to deliver 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low-Earth orbit, part of efforts to build a broadband constellation to rival Musks Starlink network. Amazon Leo satellites were not integrated on the rocket at the time of the incident, a source familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named due to its sensitivity. The explosion marks the latest setback for the long-delayed New Glenn, which is supposed to play a central role in delivering lunar la...