June 1 (Reuters) – Damage to a Blue Origin launch pad from the spectacular explosion of the company’s giant New Glenn rocket during a test firing of its engines last week will “take some serious time” to repair, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman told CNBC on Monday.
A 2028 time frame was “within the realm” of possibility, he said in an interview at CNBC’s CEO Council Summit, the network reported.
The powerful two-stage vehicle erupted in a colossal fireball while bolted to the launch tower on Thursday during what was supposed to have been a routine static “hot-fire” test in preparation for its fourth flight to orbit since January 2025.
The mishap came at a critical time for the Blue Origin rocket and Amazon satellite ventures of billionaire Jeff Bezos, who is seeking to compete on a more equal footing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the world’s leading private space launch service.
Company and industry sources said over the weekend that the explosion had left the launch pad “practically destroyed” and in need of repairs that engineers expect will disrupt operations for at least six months.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported in the accident at a U.S. Space Force launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida. And none of the Amazon Leo satellites that the rocket was scheduled to carry into orbit had been integrated into the spacecraft’s payload at the time of the incident.
The New Glenn, named for the late astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, is supposed to play a central role in delivering lunar landers and cargo as part of NASA’s Artemis moon missions.
(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Edwina Gibbs)
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