Blue Origin CEO says New Glenn will fly again before the year ends
Key takeaways
- But NASA's Jared Isaacman believes the launchpad, which exploded on May 28, may not be fixed until 2028.
- Blue Origin Blue Origin may or may not have to sit out the most immediate moon-bound missions for NASA — it depends on who you ask.
- If you'll recall, Blue Origin's Cape Canaveral launchpad exploded with the heavy-lift rocket while the company was conducting a hotfire test to prepare New Glenn for its fourth mission.
But NASA's Jared Isaacman believes the launchpad, which exploded on May 28, may not be fixed until 2028.
Blue Origin Blue Origin may or may not have to sit out the most immediate moon-bound missions for NASA — it depends on who you ask. The agency's administrator, Jared Isaacman, told CNBC that it will "take some serious time" for Blue Origin to restore its New Glenn launchpad, which exploded on May 28, and that a 2028 timeframe is "within the realm" of possibility. However, Blue Origin's CEO believes his company can repair it much, much sooner. "We will fly again before the end of this year. Gradatim Ferociter," Dave Limp wrote on X.
If you'll recall, Blue Origin's Cape Canaveral launchpad exploded with the heavy-lift rocket while the company was conducting a hotfire test to prepare New Glenn for its fourth mission. Isaacman toured the facility, known as Launch Complex 36, on May 29 to see the damage firsthand and to talk to the team. The company had only just started testing the rocket after it was grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), following its third mission wherein it failed to put its payload into orbit. It was given permission to launch New Glenn again after closing an investigation that found a "cryogenic leak" to be the cause of the incident.