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May 29, 2026 / 2:12 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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The destruction of Blue Origin's unmanned New Glenn rocket in a catastrophic launchpad explosion, along with apparently severe damage to the company's only launch pad, sent shock waves through the U.S. space community Friday. The company could now be facing flight delays stretching months — if not longer — and could cause serious delays in NASA's moon mission plans.Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has not yet revealed what recorded telemetry and launchpad video might show about the cause of the Thursday night explosion at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. As always with such tests, the area had been evacuated and no injuries were reported."It's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it," Bezos said in a post on X. "Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it."The titanic blast could be seen across a wide swath of Florida, shaking nearby homes and rattling windows as roiling clouds of flame billowed into the sky framed by arcing streaks of debris flying in all directions.
