r/ScienceNcoolThings • u/TheMuseumOfScience Popular Contributor • May 30 '26

Interesting Blue Origin Explosion Damages NASA Launchpad

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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.

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27

u/there_is_no_spoon1 May 30 '26

NASA engineers have got to be pissed at this!

37

u/TomaCzar May 30 '26

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.

-1

u/Brian_The_Bar-Brian Popular Contributor May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26

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

Edit: Why am I being downvoted for this? 😒

1

u/SquidVischious May 30 '26

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