{"id":451,"date":"2026-05-29T20:59:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:59:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=451"},"modified":"2026-05-29T20:59:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T20:59:42","slug":"blue-origins-rocket-explosion-is-a-big-setback-for-nasas-moon-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=451","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin\u2019s rocket explosion is a big setback for NASA\u2019s moon goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

The giant explosion of a Blue Origin rocket on Thursday evening is a major setback not only for Jeff Bezos\u2019 space company but also for NASA, as it could delay efforts to land astronauts on the moon and begin construction of a base on the lunar surface.<\/p>

Read more Judge temporarily halts Kennedy Center closure and orders Trump\u2019s name be removed from the building<\/a><\/p>

The company must now reckon with the loss of one of its few New Glenn rockets, the destruction of its only operational launch pad for those rockets, and what could be months or years of investigation and delays before the booster can return to flight.<\/p>

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NASA will face the same uncertainties. Blue Origin was expected to play a central role in the agency\u2019s return-to-the-moon program. The company has been competing with SpaceX to build lunar landers that can transport astronauts from Earth orbit to the moon. NASA planned to test one or both of those commercially built landers during its Artemis III mission next year. <\/p>

Three days ago, Blue Origin also won a major contract to carry two robotic landers to the moon for NASA on missions scheduled to launch later this year.<\/p>

\u201cOverall, it\u2019s a huge setback for Blue Origin,\u201d said Kathleen Curlee, a research analyst at Georgetown University\u2019s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. <\/p>

NASA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>

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Its administrator, Jared Isaacman, wrote Thursday in a post on X: \u201cSpaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult.\u201d<\/p>

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