Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin is doubling down on using its New Glenn megarocket again this year after last month’s explosion. But the company still doesn’t know why that explosion occurred.
In his most detailed public statement yet about the explosion, CEO Dave Limp wrote on Blue Origin’s website Tuesday that his company is still trying to “identify and correct the root cause” of the explosion. “Early analyzes point to the aft section of the first stage” of the rocket, Limp wrote, saying the company is obtaining “extensive data from multiple camera angles and sensors.”
After spending more than a decade slowly and deliberately developing New Glenn, Blue Origin had moved quickly with the new rocket. Its first launch was in January 2025 and New Glenn was preparing to fly for the fourth time when exploded during tests on May 28 this year. (No one was injured in the explosion.)
Blue Origin wants to get the rocket back into the air as quickly as possible because the company has become one of the central players in NASA’s push to return humans to the moon before President Trump leaves office.
To do so, Blue Origin will not only need to determine and fix what caused last month’s explosion, but it will also need to rebuild the company’s launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, as it is currently the company’s only launch pad that can support the massive rocket.
In his post, Limp praised Blue Origin employees for making rapid progress on this front.
The company lost a beam tower in the explosion, as well as the large equipment that moves New Glenn to the launch pad and keeps it upright (known as a transporter-erector). Buildings near the site were also damaged by the explosion. Still, Limp wrote that the company “also had many opportunities and intends to make the most of them.”
Some of those disruptions include the fact that the site’s water tower, gas tanks and rocket integration facilities are “in good condition.”
Limp shared more details about how Blue Origin will change its current launch complex at Cape Canaveral. The company is scrapping the transporter-erector idea and will instead use a massive crane to place New Glenn on the launch pad before flights.
In addition to allowing Blue Origin to return to flight sooner than expected, this approach would increase New Glenn’s flight rate, according to Limp. Blue Origin was planning up to 12 launches this year before the May explosion.
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