NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman surveys Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36 the day after a May 28 explosion of a New Glenn rocket there. Credit: NASA/John Kraus
WASHINGTON — Blue Origin has started rebuilding a launch pad severely damaged in a New Glenn explosion less than three weeks ago as it works to resume launches by the end of the year.
Speaking at the VivaTech conference in Paris on June 17, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and its chief executive, Dave Limp, said they were making good progress on returning New Glenn to flight after a May 28 explosion during a static-fire test at Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36.
That explosion caused serious damage to the pad, including the collapse of a lightning tower and the destruction of the transporter-erector used to bring the rocket to the pad and raise it to the vertical position. However, Blue Origin concluded the explosion could have been worse.
“It was a gut punch for the whole team,” Bezos said. “But what we’ve learned since then is that we got really lucky. Some of the long-lead items in the launch infrastructure were preserved.”
