CNBC reports, “NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Monday told CNBC that it will ‘take some serious time’ to restore the launchpad damaged last week by a Blue Origin rocket explosion. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin was conducting a hot-fire test of its massive New Glenn rocket on Thursday at a Space Force launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when the rocket erupted into a fireball. Bezos confirmed that all Blue Origin personnel were safe following the incident, and pledged to rebuild, while calling it a ‘very rough day.'”
Full Story (CNBC)
Tag: Launchpad
SpaceX Hoping Steel Plates Prevent Launchpad Explosion
Bloomberg reports that before SpaceX “can try again to send its massive Starship rocket into orbit, the company needs to repair and renovate its badly damaged launch site in southern Texas.” It is unknown if the design choices will be enough to prevent future damage to the launch site after the April 20 liftoff damaged the launchpad’s structure and sent “chunks of sand, concrete and steel thousands of feet into the sky and setting fire to a nearby park.”
Full Story (Bloomberg – subscription publication)
NASA Readies Artemis for Another Attempt
CBS News reports, “NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket, bedeviled by fuel leaks, unrelated glitches and finally by an approaching hurricane, headed back out to its launch pad late Thursday for another attempt to get the Artemis program’s unpiloted and oft-delayed maiden flight underway.” Engineers plan to try to launch the rocket again just past midnight on November 14.
Full Story (CBS News)
NASA’s Artemis I Set to Launch in November
CNET News reported, “NASA will roll Artemis I back to out the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida as early as Nov. 4. The Nov. 14 attempt would mean a nighttime launch with a 69-minute window opening at 12:07 a.m. ET (9:07 p.m. PT on Nov. 13).”
Full Story (CNET News)
NASA’s Artemis Rocket Returns to Launchpad
The New York Times reports that “NASA’s big moon rocket is rolling out to the launching pad for the third time – and it actually is slated to launch to the moon.” The rollout “had been scheduled for Thursday, but NASA announced on Monday that the move had been moved up to Tuesday evening.” This is leading up “to the launch of NASA’s Artemis I mission, an uncrewed test of the giant rocket and the Orion spacecraft where astronauts will one day sit.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription publication)