BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Reactions are pouring in after a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night on Florida’s Space Coast.
Thankfully, there were no reported injuries. However, the mishap creates significant uncertainty for upcoming space missions.
The rocket explosion happened at 9 p.m. at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Two rocket launches have been planned for Friday from Florida, but the New Glenn rocket was not among them.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was planned for launch around 8 a.m., and a ULA Atlas V rocket was set for launch at 7:33 p.m.
The New Glenn rocket exploded during a pre-planned “hotfire” test at Space Launch Complex 36.
Officials said no one was hurt in the massive explosion, but major damage is likely to have been left at the launchpad.
Soon after the explosion, reactions started coming.
“Initially? It was just where I could just see the sky. It looked like it went to daylight with just multi colors everywhere, and then I could just see the ball of fire,” said witness Kelly Stutts. “It just went up into flames, and then it went like, like horizontally, like farther out, and as if it was on several of the launch pads.”
Other witnesses told Channel 9 the massive explosion was so powerful it shook their home from miles away.
As officials still work to assess the damage, the future of New Glenn could be in question.
Plans are in place to use the New Glenn rocket for upcoming missions to the moon with NASA’s Artemis lunar program and to Mars with NASA’s ESCAPADE mission.
New Glenn was designed as a heavy-lift rocket capable of supporting deep-space and lunar missions.
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