Blue Origin explosion under investigation

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:01]An investigation's underway into the cause of a Blue Origin rocket explosion in Florida. There are some concerns about how long it will take to rebuild the pad. Esther Bauer with our sister station in Orlando reports.

[00:00:12]>> We still have no idea how long it will take Blue Origin to fully fix this pad, but for some context, when SpaceX had a similar issue, it took them nearly half a year to rebuild. Now, this is even worse for Blue Origin because launch complex 36 was their only pad to launch, and now it's destroyed.

[00:00:32]>> Oh, it blew up.

[00:00:34]>> It looked like a nuclear bomb went off in our backyard when a test turned into a tragedy.

[00:00:40]>> Our biggest concern, obviously, is safety.

[00:00:44]>> It was so traumatic.

[00:00:46]We've not seen anything like this on a a manned launch pad of the future.

[00:00:52]>> From an inferno to nothing but rubble.

[00:00:54]When the sun came up on Friday, you could really see how bad the damage is.

[00:00:59]This was the launch pad before the explosion with two metal structures side by side. On Friday, only one is still standing. Launch complex 36 cost Blue Origin more than $1 billion to build, and there is no telling how much it will cost them to fix.

[00:01:15]>> Whatever caused the rocket to blow up, they need to investigate it, correct it. Hopefully, it doesn't happen again.

[00:01:23]>> The NASA administrator rushed to the scene was on the ground at the pad just hours after to try and figure out what went wrong. Blue Origin has only said they experienced an anomaly, and Jeff Bezos added, "It's too early to know the root cause, but we're already working to find it."

[00:01:40]>> This will slow the program down if the pad is badly damaged.