Two days ago, NASA was praising Blue Origin. It even handed the company a $188 million Moon deal.
Thursday night, the company's New Glenn rocket blew up on the launchpad. The timing could hardly be worse.
The blast hit during a ground test. The engines fire while the rocket stays bolted down, with no flight planned.
A hot-fire test like this is a key step before any launch. It took place at a Space Force launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Founder Jeff Bezos spoke up fast. He said on X that everyone was safe and the team would rebuild and fly again.
The company later warned about debris. It said pieces could wash up on nearby beaches, and told people not to touch them.
Local officials called the blast an anomaly. They said it posed no threat to the public.
The FAA said the test was not a licensed flight. So there was no hit to air traffic.
Still, the failure leaves one of Blue Origin's main rockets grounded. The space stocks race is now a real investing theme. Either way, Market Briefs keeps you on top of the space race every morning, with a free investing masterclass when you sign up.
Blue Origin was about to launch 48 satellites for Amazon. They are part of Amazon's Leo service, which beams internet from space.
The Leo service is Amazon's answer to Starlink. It aims to sell internet to homes far from cable lines.
That was the first of 24 launches Amazon booked with the company. Now those plans are in doubt.
The clock makes it worse. Amazon must put about 1,600 internet satellites in orbit by July to meet a government deadline.
A grounded rocket makes that race much harder. Another firm, ULA, still planned to launch 29 Amazon satellites Friday night.
Amazon has other launch partners too. But Blue Origin is one of its most important.
The blast also lands at an awkward moment for NASA. Just a day earlier, the agency praised Blue Origin's role in Artemis.
Artemis is NASA's plan to put astronauts back on the Moon in 2028. The same speech revealed the new $188 million Moon Base deal.
NASA now says it is aware of the blast. It will check for any hit to its Moon plans.
NASA chief Jared Isaacman put it plainly. He said spaceflight is unforgiving, and heavy rockets are very hard to build.
Even Elon Musk weighed in, and his SpaceX is Blue Origin's biggest rival. He wrote on X, "Rockets are hard."
The same push to win space contracts is pulling in big defense companies too.
Investigators still need to find the cause. That timeline will set how long New Glenn stays grounded.
Big rockets are hard to build. Even a small flaw can cause a blast.
Blue Origin says it will rebuild whatever broke. It plans to fly again once it knows the cause.
For Bezos and his team, the rebuild starts now.
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