Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explodes during engine test at Cape Canaveral

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded during an engine-firing test at Cape Canaveral on May 28, 2026. The vehicle had been scheduled to launch a satellite the following week and was also slated to place Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander into lunar orbit for NASA.

The explosion damaged the launch pad and prompted an investigation into the cause. Blue Origin had received NASA contracts days earlier, including one this fall for a Blue Moon mission carrying agency payloads.

NASA lunar plans now hinge on single contractor NASA’s Artemis III mission, planned for 2027, calls for astronauts to dock in lunar orbit with a separate landing craft. The agency had intended to use either SpaceX’s Starship variant or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon for that role.

With the New Glenn grounded, Blue Origin cannot launch its lander on schedule. A professor at the U.S. Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies stated that the setback leaves Artemis III dependent on SpaceX for the time being. SpaceX is still completing development of a lunar-lander version of Starship.

Further delays on that vehicle could push the Artemis III test to 2028 and the subsequent crewed landing mission beyond its current 2028 target.

timing coincides with rival setback SpaceX plans to go public on June 12, 2026, seeking up to $75 billion at a valuation of $1.75 trillion or higher. The company conducted more than 80 percent of global rocket launches last year and operates over 10,000 Starlink satellites.

Blue Origin also intends to compete in low-Earth-orbit satellite services, but the launch-pad damage will delay those efforts as well. An author and advisory partner at Perella Weinberg noted that the accident widens SpaceX’s lead in both lunar and satellite markets for the next two to three years.