Posted on 05/29/2026 7:04:04 AM PDT by Red Badger
Via the Associated Press, a familiar (if dispiriting) incident in space exploration:
A rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin exploded during a test at the launch pad Thursday night, shaking nearby homes and briefly painting the sky orange.
Blue Origin said its New Glenn rocket exploded during an engine-firing test being conducted ahead of a satellite launch planned for next week. No one was hurt, according to officials at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Watching this footage, it's kind of incredible that "no one was hurt!"
VIDEO AT LINK.............
The blowup from other angles is just as unbelievable:
VIDEOS AT LINK............
As the AP reports, Blue Origin "had been on track to launch a prototype lunar lander to the moon on a flight test this fall," though I think we can safely say that's probably been pushed back a bit.
Rocket explosions are part of the learning process with any new launch vehicle. You expect them to happen.
But in this case, not only was it a complete surprise given how far along the New Glenn program is in development, but it also took Blue Origin's only launch pad out of commission.
From Eric Berger at ARS Technica:
No one was injured during the failure, which sources said caused extensive damage to the company's large and complex launch site. During a pad failure in 2016, with the smaller Falcon 9 rocket, it took SpaceX more than a year to rebuild its seriously damaged Space Launch Complex-40 pad.
...
This is the worst disaster in the history of Blue Origin, founded in 2000.
The issue is that Blue Origin had already been selected as an integral part of NASA's moon base plan. Now their only launch pad was shredded by the largest rocket explosion since a Soviet explosion half a century ago.
It takes time to rebuild such things.
Early reports from sources suggest that the launch infrastructure at LC-36A is severely damaged. A source indicated that one of the lightning towers may not be salvageable, and that the transporter-erector may also be damaged beyond repair.
Another launch pad was already under construction nearby, but the company will be unlikely to launch another New Glenn rocket until late 2027.
The failure of New Glenn also has major implications for NASA and its surging efforts to return humans to the Moon before the end of this decade, and to establish a lunar base on the surface.
On Tuesday NASA announced that it had selected the New Glenn rocket to deliver the first two rovers, built by Lunar Outpost and Astrolab, to the lunar surface in 2028. Blue Origin has developed its own cargo lunar lander, Blue Moon Mark 1, designed to fly on top of New Glenn. It was due to launch this fall to the Moon for the first time, and again next year carrying the VIPER rover to the Moon for NASA.
Yes, two days after NASA announced it had selected New Glenn to deliver its lunar rovers, a New Glenn rocket blew the company's launchpad to smithereens.
Because of the success of New Glenn, Blue Origin was set to "break into a monthly launch cadence." Not anymore.
The company may pivot now, abandoning the smaller version of the rocket that exploded on the launch pad in favor of its larger one.
One thing is for sure: If this had been a SpaceX rocket that exploded, the media would have been mocking the company and its owner, Elon Musk, for days!
The unfortunate incident got a nod of sympathy from the Mars Man himself:
The final frontier is a risky business!
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Climate Change.............
Whoops, same topic. 😳😚
That is some of the worst filming I have ever seen, and I have watched a lot. Person was unable to keep their phone aimed at the explosion which seems to be common among amateurs filming with their phones.
Hmmm. Maybe I need to crack open my ancient orbital dynamics textbook (50 years ago I earned a BS in Physics but then went into system engineering and IT instead)... It's probably hidden under the partial diff-eq and lin-algebra textbooks, LOL.
Clean up on Pad-2......
I cannot fathom why they don’t have a back-up pad in cases of explosions just like this.....................
Because they’re incredibly expensive? Not being snarky just throwing it out there.
ight now we don’t have anything close to the reliable technology or space infrastructure necessary to take a man to mars … much less get him back, which is an even more difficult proposition.
—
Or the Moon. The Chinese are right on time for their 2030 Lunar South Pole colony and mass driver project.
Everything in space research is expensive. But the Cost of the launch pads must be near the bottom......
BRAVE AI:
NASA launch pad costs vary significantly by scale and purpose, ranging from approximately $900,000 for small-class dedicated pads to over $2.5 billion for complex mobile launchers associated with the Space Launch System (SLS).
Small-Class Launch Pad (Pad 39C): Constructed in 2015 to support small satellites, this customizable concrete slab facility cost approximately $900,000 to build.
Mobile Launcher-1 (SLS): The original launch tower for the SLS rocket cost at least $927 million, including the initial $234 million development for the canceled Ares I rocket and $693 million for redesigning it for SLS.
Mobile Launcher-2 (SLS): Currently under construction by Bechtel for Artemis IV, this project’s cost has escalated from an initial $383 million contract to projected totals exceeding $2.5 billion, with completion delayed until 2029.
Historical Context (LC-39): The original Launch Complex 39, used for Apollo and the Space Shuttle, had an estimated construction cost of $500 million (in 1960s dollars) and took three years to build.
AI-generated answer. Please verify critical facts.
“Everything in space research is expensive.”
SpaceX/Musk has brought the cost of space flight down significantly. So is the quote before or after SpaceX efficiency? Is the quote from AI? or Whom?
Gateway is cancelled until some time later 10-15 years away -if it ever gets funded
Both New Glenn and Starship are currently grounded.
Starship still has not achieved LEO, let alone propellant transfer. Or any other major hurtles like PDR, CDR, & human rating.
SpaceX’s lunar lander is a work in progress. Faces major landing hurtles, due to height and likelihood of toppling over on rugged ground, plus the workability of a 50 foot elevator.
Blue’s Origin’s lander, Blue Moon, has to be converted for humans, pass PDR, CDR & human rated.
Both have to demonstrate successful propellant transfer a number of times to prove reliable. New Glenn needs 2 refuelings. SpaceX needs at least 10, maybe 12, due to its weight.
Both have to demonstrate at least 2 uncrewed lunar landings to prove reliable.
Both will be very lucky to have one uncrewed lunar landing by 2030; the one that does that first, will be the one chosen going forward.
He gives his reasons as a Nobel winning physicist, who ranks up there with Einstein, why he thinks we never been and never will be visited by alien beings from outer space. This has changed my opinion on UFOs substantially.
—
1. Einstein? Very doubtful;
2. Carl Sagan would have disagreed vehemently;
3. Richard Feynman is dead (1918–1988). There was no such thing as the internet or YT in 1988 BTW. You are watching AI generated content of dubious value.
SpaceX/Musk has brought the cost of space flight down significantly. yes, he has. But it’s still way beyond the cost of normal everyday businesses and certainly individuals unless you happen to be a billionaire.
We will never see space travel in our lifetimes become as affordable as is portrayed in “2001 A Space Odyssey” and many other sci-fi novels and movies.
When you consider what it costs to launch even a small package to low earth orbit, it is expensive, but relative to what it used to cost it has come down considerably.....
Carl Sagan acknowledged the questions raised by the Fermi paradox and the issues of time, distance, the speed limit of light, energy (the rocket equation) and biological constraints. He didn’t come to the exact bleak conclusions as Feynman but he acknowledged the seriousness of the issues.
Blue Origin NS-31 was a sub-orbital spaceflight operated by
Blue Origin as part of New Shepard, the company’s space tourism program.
The flight took place on April 14, 2025, and lasted 10 minutes and 21 seconds.
The flight carried all female passengers and was organized by journalist Lauren Sánchez, the then-fiancée of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
She was joined by Aisha Bowe, Kerianne Flynn, Gayle King, Amanda Nguyen and Katy Perry.
“then fiancé”. LOL.
Isn’t it hard to take someone seriously
when they are doing publicity stunts?
The timing of this explosion yesterday was unfortunate.
The tidal bulge lags the rotation of the earth and has the effect of raising the level of the Moon’s orbit, which actually slows it down. The moon at 380,000 km orbital radius moves at about 1.0 km/sec. GPS satellites at about 23,000 km orbital radius, at about 3.8 km/sec.
The net tidal effect of the earth on the moon is a transfer of about one gigawatt - a billion joules per second - from earth’s rotation to the moon’s orbit.
The specific orbital energy, that is energy per unit mass, of a circular orbit is -μ/(2R), where μ is the main body orbital parameter, and R is the orbital radius. The negative sign means the two bodies are gravitationally bound. The specific potential energy of the orbit is -μ/R and the specific kinetic energy of a circular orbit is +μ/(2R). The -μ/(2R) is the sum of the two term. -μ/R + μ/(2R) = -μ/(2R). So, the moon is gaining altitude while losing speed.
Within the last week, someone on Free Republic posted close up still photographs of the first USA nuclear test in 1945.
About half of the close up cameras were destroyed or failed.
The posted photos were quite amazing.
The ground level light flash and dust ball were hundreds of yards in width and elevation within one tenth of a second.
Oh geez... I’m pretty sure that if I started looking for stuff around here from 50 years ago, I could have a camera crew shoot the expedition and post it on YouTube. I’m just not a great housekeeper...
Interesting info! Thanks
Thank you for the technical info (detailed explanation and corrections).
My poor ol’ brain is now absorbing it... :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.