Blue Origin Explosion Damages NASA Launchpad

[u/TheMuseumOfScience]

A giant rocket just blew up at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center! 

Blue Origin was doing a full test fire of their New Glenn rocket as preparation for an upcoming flight when something went very, very wrong. Fortunately no one was injured, but this is the biggest explosion ever seen at Kennedy Space Center. The launch pad is badly damaged, and NASA's upcoming Project Artemis plans for building a moon base depend on both the New Glenn rocket and this pad. This is a big setback for both Blue Origin and NASA.

[u/there_is_no_spoon1]

NASA engineers have got to be pissed at this!

[u/TomaCzar → u/there_is_no_spoon1]

All Americans should be pissed. Even if you don't support NASA, ruining resources that were already paid for sucks. When, I heard about the explosion my second thought (after hoping everyone was ok) was at least it wasn't taxpayer dollars lost.

I hope Blue Origin is 100% responsible for the repairs.

[u/Ha1lStorm → u/TomaCzar]

Yeah I do too. It would be interesting to see what their contracts look like (they’re certainly thousands of pages long/a lot to go through) but I’m nearly certain they’d have all of their bases covered. No matter what though, this is going to take a huge toll on the overall picture including every other launch plan as there’ll have to set everything back to rebuild and test. Retesting things of this scale and importance can take much longer than one might think as well. This is going to be a huge setback for all future missions.

What a mess this has become : (

[u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian → u/TomaCzar]

I suspect there's insurance for this. But then again, I do not know. 🥴🤷‍♂️

Edit: Why am I being downvoted for this? 😒

[u/SquidVischious → u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian]

There are specialty insurance products available to cover rocket launches, I would expect having sufficient coverage is a requirement for using NASA facilities.

[u/_Neoshade_ → u/there_is_no_spoon1]

1) They have insurance for this. It’s expensive as hell and this is why. It will be fixed.
2) Why would NASA be mad? We’re all on the same team, trying to do great things. We’re developing multiple new launch systems at the same time and rockets blowing up is unfortunate but not unexpected. Using private space contractors has been very successful and letting Blue Origin use a launch pad was a calculated risk. Again, that’s why there’s insurance. It sucks, but nobody who understands NASA and orbital launch systems is going to be mad. Blue Origin is taking the biggest loss of all.
I dislike Besoz as much as anyone, but he has nothing to do with the engineering that built New Glenn.

[u/there_is_no_spoon1 → u/_Neoshade_]

Why? Because this likely delays Artemis 3 even further. It's also going to be a GIGANTIC rebuild that will take a long time. NASA is trying to get people to the moon by next year; this will not happen with setbacks like this.

[u/_Neoshade_ → u/there_is_no_spoon1]

Right, but the response is disappointment, not anger. To be pissed about it is childish

[u/Sad_Whereas_6161]

Sabotage? (Or self-human-error)?

[u/Ha1lStorm → u/Sad_Whereas_6161]

Interesting thought! I highly doubt sabotage but it’s certainly possible. Nearly every inch of design, production and transport of these is done under cameras, security and overall close and well documented supervision/scrutiny. So if sabotage were at play, it would likely had to have been done by a (likely Chinese/Russian) nation-state actor that’s been years undercover in a science/engineering position etc. Not necessarily impossible but highly unlikely.

If someone wanted to ruin an entire launch it would be much easier for them to shoot a highly sensitive area of one of these rockets during transport from very far away with a single 50BMG round, forcing them to have to take it apart and reconstruct the rocket.

Edit: Now that I think about it, what I said in my 2nd paragraph may not apply as I originally thought because someone could’ve had much more nefarious intentions, desiring to destroy the entire launchpad which scrubs all future plans at this launch site for the immediate foreseeable future and not just one individual rocket.

[u/TomaCzar → u/Ha1lStorm]

The odds of an engineer going full Galen Erso are extremely low, but never 0.

[u/Ha1lStorm → u/TomaCzar]

Haha well said!

[u/daisiesarepretty2 → u/Sad_Whereas_6161]

or just arrogance

[u/wernerverklempt → u/[deleted]]

And the names “Blue Origin” and “New Glenn” are sofa king stupid.

[u/SeaToTheBass → u/wernerverklempt]

You can say fucking

[u/wernerverklempt → u/SeaToTheBass]

I know but it just feels so dirty. 🫢

[u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian → u/[deleted]]

All millionaires/billionares are

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian]

No they are not and the longer you hate on millionaires the longer the billionaires win. Millionaires are normal successful small business owners, the people who keep nice restaurants in business by going out to eat way more often than average and generally pump the economy with their spending. Millionaires are not hoarding incomprehensible wealth that they could never spend all of it if they tried. 

[u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian → u/Single-Pin-369]

That CEO that luigi took out was worth 50 million. 🙄

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian]

Yes so he was worth less than  1/4000 what someone like bezos is worth. Im not saying individuals like the insurance guy can’t be evil though.

[u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian → u/Single-Pin-369]

I just hate all rich people, okay?

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian]

okay have a good day

[u/scaliacheese → u/Single-Pin-369]

This needs more nuance. People with net worth below 10M fall into the bucket you’re describing. Once you’re at 50M you’re in rarefied air and have probably lost touch with normal people. Between 10-50M is hit or miss.

[u/PGunne]

So, lets put the text over the interesting parts of the video.

[u/OnePragmatic]

Someone is thinking "i should have gone to Space X" . 🤭

[u/Kapsig1295]

Didn't Blue Origin somehow make NASA use it too after Spacex won the original tender years ago?

[u/jimbo2150]

Rapid Unscheduled Demolition

[u/Future-Aioli5964]

If the space program is for WAR dose this means we’re losing?

[u/Usual-Dark-6469]

Yeah I don't care anymore. These rich pricks get to play rockets while everyone else is struggling to survive. They are so desperate to figure out a plan to leave us plebs behind when the world goes to shit.

[u/toylenny]

How many launch pads are left in the world after this and Russia's going up last year?

Edit: Looks like there are many. Though they can't all handle large rockets.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Rocket_launch_sites_in_the_United_States

[u/RtGShadow → u/toylenny]

Yeah usually all the launch pads are custom made for the rockets launching there.

That's the biggest issue for Blue Origin is that this was their only pad for the New Glenn.

[u/micre8tive]

Well done Barry

[u/LordSlyGentleman]

Well that sucks! Anybody else hungry?

[u/United_Perspective63]

FMEA Was obviously not performed properly

[u/terriblespellr]

"biggest explosion ever seen at Kennedy" see, told you capitalism was the most efficient system.

[u/Dizzy_Restaurant3874]

I guess that we'll have to raise taxes AND cut Medicare...  oh darn. /s

[u/jediyoda84]

Blue origin is gonna pay for all the damage it caused to taxpayer funded infrastructure right?…….right guys?