Blue Origin | The Verge

Blue Origin explosion is a major setback for NASA’s Moon plans and Amazon’s Starlink competitor

2026-07-13T08:37:02-04:00

New Glenn rocket explodes at Launch Complex 36 on Thursday night in Florida. | Image: Spaceflight Now

While Blue Origin investigates the root cause behind last night's spectacular explosion of its New Glenn rocket, it's already clear that this will be a major setback for NASA's Moon base plans and Amazon's fledgling Leo space internet constellation.

The incident occurred at about 9PM at Blue Origin's Florida launch site during a hot-fire test, where seven engines in the booster stage are lit while keeping the 322-foot-tall rocket fixed to the launchpad. The explosion and ensuing fireball severely damaged the only launchpad Blue Origin has for its New Glenn rocket.

Here's our video of the explosion at Launch Complex 36. It happened about …

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Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket lands successfully, but payload delivery fails

2026-04-20T11:13:36-04:00

Liftoff. | Anadolu via Getty Images

Today's launch of AST SpaceMobile's satellite aboard Blue Origin's reusable rocket was a partial success. The New Glenn first stage booster touched back down on a drone ship without incident, its second launch and landing, and officially giving Jeff Bezos a reusable launch vehicle to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9.

Unfortunately for Blue Origin and AST SpaceMobile, the overall mission was less successful. The Bluebird 7 cell-tower-in-space was delivered to a lower orbit than expected by the second stage of the launch vehicle, and it will be destroyed. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the FAA announced Sunday night that New Glenn has been …

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Are Elon Musk’s Mars plans finally coming back down to Earth?

2026-02-18T15:05:40-05:00

Maybe you've heard, but Elon Musk is apparently a Moon fan now. He has historically been the ultimate cheerleader for human missions to Mars, and as recently as last year, he said his aim was to go straight to the red planet and that the Moon was "a distraction." Now, he has apparently changed his mind, announcing that SpaceX has shifted focus to building a city on the Moon.

Within the space science community, this news about the Moon has largely been met with eye rolls, primarily because so many have become jaded toward Musk's overly ambitious plans and wildly unrealistic time scales.

"It was hard for me to take those Mars plans seriousl …

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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin flop is bigger than Katy Perry

2025-04-18T10:36:45-04:00

Turns out “you go girl” feminism wasn’t enough to save this stunt trip.

You know, I was simply going to ignore the bizarre Blue Origin stunt flight from earlier this week. But then it flopped beyond my wildest imagination, and so here we all are.

Doubtless you know the contours already: Jeff Bezos' fiancee Lauren Sánchez, pop star Katy Perry, and four other women did a big space tourism trip in the name of performative femiladyism, wearing "space suits" cut so as to require a pair of Spanx underneath. "We're going to have lash extensions flying in the capsule," Sánchez said. "We are going to put the 'ass' in astronaut," Perry said.

@lanadelgay98
#katyperry #space #womeninstem @AP Entertainment @Katy Perry
…

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Katy Perry launched into space with Blue Origin

2025-04-14T14:49:58-04:00

Katy Perry, Lauren Sánchez, and the four other women on Blue Origin’s NS-31 flight.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has launched pop singer / songwriter Katy Perry into space, along with five other women: former NASA scientists Aisha Bowe and Amanda Nguyen, journalist Gayle King, journalist and Bezos fiancée Lauren Sánchez, and film producer Kerianne Flynn. Their flight, called NS-31, launched aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket as its launch window opened at 8:30AM CT / 9:30AM ET. It was livestreamed both on YouTube and Blue Origin's website.

Past New Shepard flights have taken passengers just to the edge of space, where they're allowed to unbuckle and roam freely for a few minutes inside the capsule before buckling up again …

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The space race heats up: all the news on the latest rocket launches

2026-08-04T04:58:46-04:00

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad 30A at the Kennedy Space Center, carrying four astronauts to the Space Station. | Photo by Manuel Mazzanti/NurPhoto via Getty Images

The commercial space industry is booming, and it’s only expected to keep growing as more billionaire-led companies send rockets into the sky. Elon Musk took SpaceX public in the world’s biggest IPO and continues to dominate the space industry. SpaceX performs dozens of launches each year, with its Starlink satellite deployment ahead of schedule.

And while Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is trying to catch up, it suffered a major setback after its New Glenn rocket exploded on its launch pad during testing. Though Blue Origin plans to return to flight by the end of 2026, the incident could slow down launches aimed at building out Amazon Leo’s growing constellation of satellites.

Then there’s Boeing, which NASA isn’t giving up on even after issues with Starliner resulted in astronauts having to extend their week-long stay at the Space Station to nine months. NASA and Boeing are still aiming for another crewed flight, while the European Space Agency’s Ariane 6 rocket is also in the mix.

Follow along below for all the latest updates on rocket launches.

Jeff Bezos is sending Katy Perry to space

2025-02-27T13:15:40-05:00

Katy Perry will fly to space during Blue Origin's next crewed mission, the Jeff Bezos-owned space company has announced. The pop star will join CBS host Gayle King and Bezos's fiancé Lauren Sánchez aboard the New Shepard rocket this spring, marking its 11th human flight.

Along with Perry and Sánchez, who is known for her work as a news anchor and correspondent, the crew will include research scientist and activist Amanda Nguyen, film producer Kerianne Flynn, and former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe. Sánchez first revealed her plans to lead an all-female Blue Origin mission in 2023, but she didn't mention who she would take on the flight …

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Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully launches SpaceX rival

2025-01-16T02:17:10-05:00

New Glenn launching from Cape Canaveral this morning. | Image: Blue Origin

The billionaire space race entered a new phase today when Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully launched its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

At 2:03AM ET this morning, New Glenn's seven reusable BE-4 engines ignited to propel the NG-1 rocket into space, with the second stage and payload reaching orbit to achieve Blue Origin's primary mission goal. It also successfully activated its Blue Ring Pathfinder payload vehicle which is "receiving data and performing well."

pic.twitter.com/Y2jjkkZsQv
- Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 16, 2025

In parallel, the first stage booster - dubbed, "So You're Telling Me There's A …

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New Glenn: Blue Origin’s big rocket launch is… scrubbed

2025-01-13T01:52:36-05:00

Blue Origin is preparing for its biggest launch yet, but on Monday morning the attempt was scrubbed for technical reasons after several delays were made throughout the three-hour launch window. The window originally opened at 1AM ET.

It's unclear when the Jeff Bezos-owned commercial space company will next attempt to send its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket into space for the first time.

We're standing down on today's launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window. We're reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.
- Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 13, 2025

The launch of New Gle …

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Jeff Bezos says he’s ‘very optimistic this time around’ about Trump

2024-12-04T17:45:38-05:00

Jeff Bezos. | Laura Normand / The Verge

Jeff Bezos and President-elect Donald Trump famously didn't get along the last time Trump was in the White House. This time, Bezos says he's "very optimistic" and even wants to help out.

"I'm actually very optimistic this time around," Bezos said of Trump during a rare public appearance at The New York Times DealBook Summit on Wednesday. "He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation. If I can help him do that, I'm going to help him."

Trump railed against Bezos and his companies - Amazon, Blue Origin, and The Washington Post - during his 2016 term. Bezos defended himself but it did little to help his reputation with Trump. No …

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