I'm over a half hour behind live on the NSF stream but they're pointing out that the Horizontal Integration Facility has light shining through it from whatever is on fire on the other side from their camera's perspective (which could be the building itself). Seems the pressure wave from the explosion ripped open the building.

The other New Glenn booster is in there. Not that it matters too much to their schedule as the pad damage will take longer to recover from than a booster build timeline.

WOW

The NSF Chiron at the bottom of the feed cracks me up. "New Glenn LN-01 experienced an anomaly during a static fire".

Thats the understatement of the year.

edit: wrong forum sorry

Holy Smoke Stacks…. Someone left the gas can open

Ag87H2O said:

---

That looks like a tactical nuke went off. The shock wave was amazing.

---

The fireball rolling up into the cloud and shining light straight down was nuts also!

I'm no Zach Golden but it looked like something toward the top, between the two tanks ruptured after the engines were lit. Starship will really have the edge on actually delivering a payload to orbit at this point, among other things. Still, not something to celebrate at all. Glad everyone was safe as well.

ETA Eric Berger take to-date. Bad, but not the end of the world. Will be curious which way they go in terms of focus (new pad/larger 9x4 rocket or not):

Quote:

---

It is too early to determine the impacts from this failure, but they will be considerable. Early reports from sources suggest that the launch infrastructure at LC-36A is severely damaged. A source indicated that one of the lightning towers may not be salvageable, and that the transporter-erector may also be damaged beyond repair.

The company recently began construction on a second New Glenn launch site nearby, LC-36B. However work there is in its early stages. It is possible, however, that completing this new launch tower may be faster than rebuilding LC-36A. New Glenn almost certainly will not launch again in 2026, and frankly a launch during the first half of 2027 would be heroic given the launch site concerns.

Blue Origin has been doing a lot of developmental work on the larger 94 rocket, which is expected to become the workhorse of the fleet over the smaller 72 rocket variant that exploded on Thursday evening in Florida. It is possible that the company now throws all of its efforts into completing work on this larger rocket.

Bezos, who made his fortune from Amazon, has largely funded Blue Origin since its founding a quarter of a century ago. He has put tens of billions of dollars into the company. Fortunately for Blue Origin, he has the financial wherewithal to sustain the company through this failure, and to accelerate its recovery efforts. NASA, too, will be very keen to see Blue Origin get back on its feet as expeditiously as possible.
If there's a small silver lining its that the rocket that exploded Thursday night did not carry its payload of Amazon Leo internet satellites. They were safe, in a nearby integration facility, awaiting launch.

---

Yeah Eric says probably sets them back until the 2nd half of 2027. Probably faster to complete their new pad that they just started than clean up and reconstruct this one.

This was goining to be their 4th launch and they had reached the point where a monthly launch cadence seemed likely.

Largest on pad explosion since the Russian N1 in 1969.

Yeah that's a very sobering video. This is going to set back everything Artemis.

ErnestEndeavor said:

---

Yeah that's a very sobering video. This is going to set back everything Artemis.

---

Blue Origin was the backup

Gaeilge said:

---

Likely just made Musk another 15% on the SPCX IPO. SpaceX's monopoly on space continues.

---

Still have ULA with Vulcan, but FH would likely be cheaper.

Did ULA ever find a buyer?

A New Glenn was supposed to carry the Mark 2 lander into orbit as part of the Artemis III mission. Mark 1 was contracted to land on the moon next year carrying a NASA payload. They were also just awarded a contract for moon base support missions including carrying the lunar rovers.

It will likely take more than a year to rebuild the pad and launch again. A big setback.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Gaeilge said:

---

Likely just made Musk another 15% on the SPCX IPO. SpaceX's monopoly on space continues.

---

Still have ULA with Vulcan, but FH would likely be cheaper.

Did ULA ever find a buyer?

---

I think Vulcan's still grounded due to the SRM nozzle falling off the last one, right?

Curious to hear what this does for Artemis III timelines.

JohnCn's tweet claims that Blue Origin's personnel are "all OK." Blue Origin's tweet says personnel are "accounted for" which is not necessarily the same thing. I fear for the safety of anyone there.

I think Blue Origin was using HR speak. If someone had perished during this, it would be out already.

Good news since they werent in the air, the FAA probably won't need a mishap investigation.

ErnestEndeavor said:

---

A New Glenn was supposed to carry the Mark 2 lander into orbit as part of the Artemis III mission.

---

Yes, and Mark 2 was the HLS backup. Starship had the contract. Sean Duffy reopened the contract to enable a manned moon landing as soon as possible. If Starship is ready for Artemis III and IV, then there should be no delay.

ErnestEndeavor said:

---

Mark 1 was contracted to land on the moon next year carrying a NASA payload. They were also just awarded a contract for moon base support missions including carrying the lunar rovers.

It will likely take more than a year to rebuild the pad and launch again. A big setback.

---

MK1 should be ready to land payload on the moon by 2028.

The interesting part is that NASA has plans in work to do remote LOX and LCH4 / fuel explosion tests to better understand risks and aftermath from such a large explosion. So there is some benefit in this.

Private companies still doing the work for NASA!!

The daytime feed from NSF, the second tower is just gone. The reinforced one and building are still standing but the reonforced one was rocking back and forth in Marley's video so I suspect it's a goner. And who knows what the pad side of the building looks like.

Mathguy64 said:

---

Ouch. Wonder how much of LC36 just got blown up with it.

---

All of it

FTAG 2000 said:

---

Mathguy64 said:

---

Ouch. Wonder how much of LC36 just got blown up with it.

---

All of it

---

Yeah. Looks that way. That pressure was massive. I'll bet it's a total loss.