Blue Origin rocket explodes on launchpad in a setback for bid to catch Musk's SpaceX

Blue Origin rocket explodes on launchpad in a setback for bid to catch Musk's SpaceX

Blue Origin's New Glenn exploded during a hot-fire test on May 28, 48 hours after NASA awarded a $188M lunar rover contract and one week behind SpaceX's largely successful Starship test. The setback widens the gap with an IPO-bound SpaceX and threatens Blue Origin's role in NASA Artemis missions and Amazon's Kuiper broadband constellation.