Blue Origin’s rocket explosion is a big setback for NASA’s moon goals

The giant explosion of a Blue Origin rocket on Thursday evening is a major setback not only for Jeff Bezos’ space company but also for NASA, as it could delay efforts to land astronauts on the moon and begin construction of a base on the lunar surface.

The company must now reckon with the loss of one of its few New Glenn rockets, the destruction of its only operational launch pad for those rockets, and what could be months or years of investigation and delays before the booster can return to flight.

NASA will face the same uncertainties. Blue Origin was expected to play a central role in the agency’s return-to-the-moon program. The company has been competing with SpaceX to build lunar landers that can transport astronauts from Earth orbit to the moon. NASA planned to test one or both of those commercially built landers during its Artemis III mission next year.

Three days ago, Blue Origin also won a major contract to carry two robotic landers to the moon for NASA on missions scheduled to launch later this year.

“Overall, it’s a huge setback for Blue Origin,” said Kathleen Curlee, a research analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote Thursday in a post on X: “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult.”

In response to a request for comment, the agency referred NBC News to Isaacman’s statement.

The accident occurred during an engine test at around 9 p.m. ET at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. In this type of test, called a static fire, a rocket is fueled and its engines are ignited to test the onboard systems, but the booster remains bolted to the launch pad and does not lift off. Space Force officials confirmed Thursday that all personnel were accounted for, and there were no injuries or deaths from the explosion.

Thursday’s explosion created an enormous fireball that engulfed Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket and appeared to destroy much of the launch pad.

The extensive damage to the pad was particularly jarring, said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for The Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that conducts research and advocacy to promote space exploration.

“Yes, rocket companies have blown things up a lot, but a pad explosion like this is rare,” he said. “They don’t want to do this, because not only is the rocket destroyed and something’s wrong with the rocket, but it destroys the infrastructure to launch these rockets into space. So this is a very messy situation.”

The damaged launch pad is currently Blue Origin’s only one for its New Glenn rocket. So even if the issue with the rocket can be quickly assessed and fixed, the company still might not have a pad from which to launch.

“This is complex infrastructure, and rebuilding a launch pad takes time,” Dreier said. “There are limits on how fast you can move.”

Blue Origin has begun preliminary work on a second launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but that project is in its infancy.

Dreier said it’s likely that Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket could be grounded for “anywhere from six months to two years” as the company conducts a full investigation. NASA has said it will work with Blue Origin to investigate the anomaly and assess the impacts to upcoming missions.

Bezos said Thursday on X that it’s “too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it.”

“Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying,” he wrote. “It’s worth it.”

Dreier said an explosion during an engine-firing test suggests a “serious issue” with the booster but that it’s difficult to speculate at this point.

“It was clearly a catastrophic failure,” he said.

The accident will almost certainly delay at least one of the uncrewed missions to the moon that NASA had planned to launch this year. The agency unveiled details of those robotic missions this week, saying that it aimed to deliver moon rovers, scientific payloads and other cargo to the lunar surface to lay groundwork to begin constructing a permanent base on the lunar surface.

Blue Origin’s explosion could also delay the upcoming Artemis III mission, which is slated to launch four astronauts into low Earth orbit to test one or both of SpaceX’s and Blue Origin’s lunar landers ahead of a planned moon landing in 2028 on the Artemis IV mission.

Both missions required the New Glenn rocket to launch Blue Origin’s landers into space.

The explosion followed another recent setback for Blue Origin. On April 20, during the New Glenn rocket’s third launch, the booster’s second stage malfunctioned and failed to deliver a commercial satellite into its intended orbit.

“This was just very bad timing for them,” Curlee said.

Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., who represents the congressional district that includes Cape Canaveral, said crews are on-site to clean up debris and will assess how long it may take to rebuild the launch pad.

“There’s no doubt this is going to delay Blue Origin’s opportunity to put their lander in space, but we’re going to be very thorough and we’re going to handle this in a smart way, and we’re still committed to getting to the moon,” he said.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com