Blue Origin Explosion: What Went Wrong

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]What's behind the Blue Origin rocket explosion? The New Glenn rocket was getting prepped in Florida for a trip that was supposed to deploy a batch of satellites for an Amazon network called LEO. Then the rocket experienced what the company has called an anomaly. Jeff Bezos posted on X that all personnel are safe and accounted for. They're working to find the root cause and will rebuild whatever is needed to get back to flying. It's a major setback for Bezos and his company as it tries to compete with SpaceX, the dominant player in space launches. Blue Origin has made some progress in its drive to compete with Elon Musk's rocket company. It's playing a key role on NASA's program to send humans back to the moon, and it won a NASA contract to send Land Rovers to the moon. The LEO satellite network, a potential rival to SpaceX's Starlink, has also secured contracts to work with airlines like Delta. But the New Glenn is years behind schedule and has faced long waits in between flights. In April, New Glenn successfully took off for a third flight and landed its booster in a company barge at sea. However, the upper portion of the rocket failed to put the satellite it was carrying into the proper orbit. Meanwhile, Musk's SpaceX is preparing to go public in a blockbuster IPO that could raise as much as $75 billion, far more than any company in history.