Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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The explosion of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on May 28, 2026, was a major setback for a company starting to hit its stride when it came to launching its orbital class rocket.

An anomaly occurred during a static fire test of the rocket that led to an explosion that took out the rocket along with pieces of the infrastructure at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

In this story, Spaceflight Now Reporter Will Robinson-Smith dives into what is known about the explosion, the response to the event, and what may happen next.

Produced by:
• Will Robinson-Smith, Spaceflight Now

Video shot by:
• Adam Bernstein, Spaceflight Now
• John Pisani, Spaceflight Now
• Will Robinson-Smith, Spaceflight Now

Additional video:
• Astrolab
• CNBC
• Blue Origin
• Lunar Outpost
• NASA
• SpaceX
• United Launch Alliance

CNBC's full interview with Jared Isaacman: youtu.be/y3RlQGr3ZZg?si=0TNNh5GjMRdqpA_r

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:13 Road to the NG-4 static fire explosion
03:21 Timeline
04:07 A view from above
06:15 NASA Administrator Isaacman's view
07:34 Weekend update
08:07 June 1 latest
09:19 "Vertical conops" at LC-36
10:46 Lessons from explosions past
13:42 Moon Base impacts
16:18 Decoupling from New Glenn
19:32 Other interested parties
20:47 Looking forward

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