The explosion of the rocket "New Glen" of the American company "Blue Origin" could be seen in the live broadcast. The accident happened on the launch pad space base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a "hotfire" test, in which rocket engines are ignited while the rocket is still attached to the ground.
Company founder, billionaire Jeff Bezos he stated on the X social network that all employees are safe, and that it is too early to talk about the cause of the accident.
The rocket explosion occurred a day after NASA Director Jared Isaacman praised the Blue Origin company for its contribution to the Artemis program, whose ultimate goal is to return astronauts to the moon in 2028.
Isaacmen said on Wednesday that he is NASA awarded the company a $188 million contract to help build a base on the moon.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates commercial space activities, has yet to officially comment on the incident.
Billionaires in the space race
Blue Origin developed New Glen to compete with billionaire SpaceX Ilona Maska, which currently dominates the commercial space launch market.
Musk said of the failed test that it was "a really unfortunate event" and that "missiles are a demanding thing."
The space race among American billionaires has been going on for some time. Musk is planning to build a base on the moon, and Bezos is focusing resources on lunar missions, with both companies aiming to return humans to the moon before a planned Chinese mission in 2030.
Photo: Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/APBezos' "Blue Origin" developed "New Glen" to compete with Musk's company "SpaceX"
Just a few days ago, "SpaceX" announced a private flyby of Mars with the spacecraft "Starship", which will be led by billionaire from the world of cryptocurrencies and entrepreneur Chun Wang, who has already flown into space once. The date when this trip is to take place has not been announced. And it should be noted that "Starship" has not even orbited the Earth yet, let alone reached the Moon.
Wang is not the first billionaire to book a trip to the moon, nor is he the first to take a commercial flight into space. In fact, about 100 people have become space tourists.
Another billionaire booked a private trip on "Starship" as early as 2022, American entrepreneur Jared Isaacman. Yes, Isaacman who is now the head of NASA. By the way, he came to that position after the Trump administration nominated him, then withdrew the nomination, re-nominated, until finally the Senate confirmed it.
Last year, the public's attention was drawn to a space trip in which, among others, the singer Katy Perry and Bezos' wife Lauren Sanchez participated. The trip was criticized as a vanity project with no sense of reality, a huge carbon footprint with no real purpose and a perception that it was performative feminism.
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