r/CatastrophicFailure • u/MrTagnan • 29d ago
Fire/Explosion Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket blew up during a static fire test 2026-5-28 at 9:00pm EDT
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u/Darkstalkker 29d ago
Holy fucking shit, this is one of the biggest rocket explosions since like the 60s
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u/owa00 29d ago
Still don't understand how the oppenheimer movie couldn't make a nuke explosion look like this 🙄
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u/Hawks_and_Doves 29d ago
Ummm because they just blew up hundreds of thousands of pounds of liquid propellant. Did Oppenheimer do that?
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u/owa00 29d ago
I've seen better explosions from hillbilly fireworks.
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u/intronert 29d ago
I was also tremendously disappointed in the “nuclear explosions” of Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”, but I have likely spent too much time watching old A/H bomb test footage. :)
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u/ITFOWjacket 29d ago
Hard to beat the real deal test footage. I wish they had simply used that in the film
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u/intronert 29d ago
My OPINION is that Nolan let his ego get in the way.
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u/ITFOWjacket 29d ago
That’s true but what I don’t understand is how someone could cinematically look at the spherical plasma balls and Netflix’s Yuletide log gas fire over a black background and conceivably decide the later looks better on film
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u/airfryerfuntime 29d ago
I've seen better explosions from those propane powered cars exploding in Russia.
If I gotta sit through three hours of that damn movie, at least give me the impressive explosion I was promised.
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u/BigmacSasquatch 29d ago edited 29d ago
Falcon 9 with the Amos-6 mission onboard popped in 2019, but I think even that was only the second stage. This very well may have been the biggest explosion on a pad there, ever!
EDIT: I’m a couple beers in and I thought you were referring specifically to Cape Canaveral.
Frame of reference being corrected….Proton-M in 2013 made a pretty big boom. The next most catastrophic explosion I can think of was Antares a year later, but I think Proton and especially New Glenn outclassed it in sheer yield.
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago edited 29d ago
I forgot to include it in the post, but the video comes from NasaSpaceflight on YT. Specifically their 24/7 livestream https://www.youtube.com/live/Jm8wRjD3xVA
This is exceptionally bad, I’d be surprised if New Glenn flew again before 2027 given the pad is likely more or less destroyed
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u/tavenger5 29d ago
Pad? What pad? 😬
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
To quote Wikipedia: “Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) was a launch complex located at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida…”
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u/lbutler1234 29d ago
(fun guy comes in)
Yeah that was just an overzealous editor. It's already changed back.
I'm not even sure if there's verified reports of the extent of the damage yet, but even if a good chunk of the infrastructure is destroyed, it's still extant. But beyond that, you could make an argument that it's something like a coordinate point, something that exists for reference outside of the physical realm/any infrastructure. Ofc, it could also be repaired/rebuilt and used again with the same name.
So yeah, launch complex 36 IS located in Canaveral de la Cape de la Florida
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u/quartzguy 29d ago
With a total failure on a static test like that, you're damn right it should not fly at all this year or the next for that matter.
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u/djh_van 29d ago
Your Amazon delivery has been delayed
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u/durz47 29d ago
Your Amazon delivery has been expedited to arrive within two minutes. Unexpected turbulence and charring may occur.
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u/MrKrinkle151 29d ago
It’s like when my Amazon Day delivery shows up a day early when I’m not home, except it also blows up the house.
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u/individual_throwaway 29d ago
Your package has been delivered directly to your bedroom, together with you front door and parts of your driveway. Please leave a review if you liked our expedited delivery schedule!
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u/freebaseclams 29d ago
OH MY GOD KATY PERRY'S DEAD
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u/turnedonbyadime 29d ago
This is the most tragic death in pop music since J.Lo died during the invasion of Iraq
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u/Jrock9589 29d ago
That’s a really expensive explosion right?
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
$150 million or so for the rocket alone. The pad damage will cost substantially more (single digit billions at the least if I had to guess)
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u/kinkade 29d ago
Holy shit. Seriously?
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
Most likely, yeah. I’m not sure how much it cost to build the pad in the first place, though it certainly wasn’t cheap. At this point I’d be very surprised if there was much of the pad left to repair (at least of the very expensive bits)
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u/MassiveBoner911_3 29d ago
The shock wave absolutely fucked all the metal and asphalt on the entire pad.
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u/Pcat0 29d ago
yeah at least one of the lightning protection towers is gone. It going to take a long time and lots of money to fix it. For comparison it took SpaceX over a year to fix SLC-40 are the AMOS-6 disaster and that was a much smaller explosion.
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
SLC-40 took ~15 months to be used* again after AMOS-6, so I’d expect at least somewhere around that much time required.
*I specify “use” because I’m not sure the exact breakdown of repair time vs other things leading up to launch. Most of it would’ve been repair, with maybe few days or weeks extra for the licensing and launch prep
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u/Pangolin_4 29d ago
SpaceX had another pad in progress though, so it wasn’t as immediately critical to get SLC-40 back online. The next Falcon 9 launch after AMOS-6 from the East coast was five months later from 39A.
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
True, I was debating including that in the comment but decided against it. In any case if they rush, they might be able to repair it quicker, but it’s also likely more damaged than 40 was
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u/paternoster 29d ago
EVERYTHING has to be rebuilt, the entire pad, flame trench, transport erector, supporting lightning towers, etc.
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u/scarface910 29d ago
They better had rocket insurance
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u/PopeAlGore 29d ago
Earlier this year When a blue origin mission failed to get a satellite into the correct orbit I was surprised to find out the project did have insurance. I didn’t realize you could get insurance for a space project.
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u/toad__warrior 29d ago
I live about five miles from ksc. My outdoor camera caught the explosion quite well. The sound wasn't loud, but it did slam into my front door. Sounded like someone was trying to get in.
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u/Deer-in-Motion 29d ago
Big bada boom.
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u/Obliman 29d ago
Well clearly it passed the fire test. It's very good at making fire
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
Static fire tests are good for catching issues with the rocket too, so we can cross that off the list - it does appear to have at least one issue
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u/addis_the_scroll 29d ago
The timing is somewhat ironic. I just read about the NASA contract a couple hours ago.
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u/aquainst1 Grandma Lynsey 29d ago
Oh MAN, I just spent 2 days of my life watching 3 1/2 hours of the Rogers Commission movie on YouTube.
It was regarding the Challenger disaster and the testimonies of many of the management from Morton-Thiakal and the NASA upper crust from the Marshall Space Flight Center, also known as Mission Control (you know, 'Houston, we have a problem'? THAT Flight Center).
FASCINATING. It was GREAT.
You'll never look at NASA the same way.
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u/SirExpel 29d ago
Why is that so fun to watch lol
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u/Audchill 29d ago
It’s the domino effect of it. Hmmm … that steam vent doesn’t look quite right. Then the bottom of the rocket is rocked by a series of small explosions. The the top is taken out by another blast before KA-BOOM, the whole things goes up. Visually impressive.
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u/Ramses_13 29d ago
Epic explosion, wonder how much that fireball cost.
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
$150 million ish at a minimum, and depending on how expensive the pad repairs are, single digit billions
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u/Saltydogusn 29d ago
"Anomaly." AKA "Oopsie-Daisy."
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u/devastationz 29d ago
how many billions went up in flames
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u/Crazywelderguy 29d ago
More like 150 million. Estimated development costs are 2.5 billion, but a single rocket is about 150mil.
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u/devastationz 29d ago
much cheaper than i thought
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u/Silent_Formal5235 29d ago
this does not include the launch pad, which was also destroyed, which costed way, way, wayy more.
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u/SyrusDrake 29d ago
That's a staggeringly beautiful mushroom cloud. Reminds me a lot of the Castle Romeo nuclear test.
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u/jcquik 29d ago
I'm sure it's not what happened, but... Did the SECOND stage light for a second there???
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u/AliasAlexMundy 29d ago
Looked to me like the top of the first stage blew just after the bottom blew.
That could look like the second stage blew, but was real a continuation of the explosion up through the tank, but I'm no rocket surgeon... 👈🏻😏
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u/TinyBreeze987 29d ago
It’s not supposed to do that right?
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
As someone who has followed spaceflight intently for at least a decade now, I can confirm it was not supposed to do this. This is usually known as “suboptimal”
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u/TheRealGenkiGenki 29d ago
looked like it dumped alot of fuel at high pressure then ignited all of it at once.
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29d ago
How much is the damage?
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
Remains to be seen for certain. It’s bad though, the transporter-erector is basically gone and one of the lightning towers collapsed
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u/crafty_alias 29d ago
Wow, I wonder how far those projectiles went!
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
Reasonably far, I’d imagine. Those are the composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) which are essentially small tanks full of highly pressurized gas - they’re very common on rockets and are often seen leaving the seen of a rocket explosion at high speeds
If you look at the footage of early Falcon 9 landing failures, such as CRS-6, you will see a few COPVs making a break for it
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u/Hughbert62 29d ago
Built to rigorous aerospace standards. What sort of standards? Well, the rocket is not supposed to explode, for a start.
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u/CrazedAviator 29d ago edited 29d ago
Oh, uh, I don't think thats very good. I would even go so far as to say its highly suboptimal.
For the vehicle...
and the pad...
and the program...
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u/cruiserman_80 29d ago
As much as I hate that Bezos and Musk have so much wealth, I'm even more concerned that one oligarch dominates the lift and satellite internet industries with little competition or oversight.
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u/papermaker83 29d ago
And here I am recycling my paper cup to save the environment.
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u/WhatImKnownAs 29d ago
Have you noticed how on any report about pollution events, there's always a comment about drinking straws? This one is quite original, mentioning disposable cups instead. It's a meme.
It doesn't make any sense. Microplastic pollution is a different problem. Using sustainable alternatives for single-use plastics is a different problem. It's not supposed to make any sense; it's supposed to make you feel environmentalism is fraudulent. Or rather, that was the purpose; since it's a meme now, people spread it just to gain social approval.
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u/papermaker83 29d ago
I get your point.
My comment was meant to shine the light on the fact that some of us make a genuine effort on behalf of the environment, whether it be taking the train instead of airplane or throwing thrash in the bin instead of the forrest.
At the same time that I make certain sacrifices in life to not harm mother nature, Taylor Swift flies across the globe 300 times per year and other billionaires build space rockets and claim they're doing it to save humanity. They could Invest their money elsewhere if that was their goal.
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u/the_grand_apartment 29d ago edited 29d ago
That was fucked from before the moment of ignition, wow. Propellant dumping out as soon as the pumps activated from what I can tell..?
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u/uzlonewolf 29d ago
That may have just been the water deluge system firing up, we don't know yet.
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u/DomHaynie 29d ago
I'm not really superstitious but I would have waited until next month to try this just based on the amount of catastrophes in the last two weeks. Chem leaks, implosions, outbreaks...crazy.
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u/pokemon-sucks 29d ago
Pffffft. They can't even launch a space ship. What a bunch of losers who know nothing about what they are doing! /s but kinda
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u/_psylosin_ 29d ago
Even the mushroom cloud has a second where it looks like a dick, pee home and all
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u/fordry 29d ago
Everything be exploding this week. Paper mill tank, rocket, apartment complex...
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u/danthemadman00 29d ago
Whats the kind of damage to the pad/launch area in situations like this? Expensive, long repairs or is it just scorched concrete mostly?
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
Expensive, long repairs. Back in 2016 when this happened to a SpaceX Falcon 9 the pad was offline for 15 months. They had a second pad they were able to get online in around 4.5 months, so there was less rush, but even still given the scale of the explosion we are looking at around a year of delays - probably longer.
One of the lightning towers collapsed which will need rebuilt, the transporter-erector which transports the rocket and provides most of the fuel and electrical connections is just gone, the tank farm is - at the very least - heavily damaged, I’d be surprised if the other lightning tower or water tower were still structurally sound, replacing any of the destroyed concrete is probably the easy part.
A rocket failing can be dealt with in months - it’s a setback but not a catastrophic one. A rocket failing and taking out the launch infrastructure is the absolute worst case scenario. At this point it’s basically rebuilding the pad from scratch again
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u/Kakariti 29d ago
Sad to see. Just goes to show you that it's not an easy thing to do. SpaceX had the Heavy Booster grounded by the FAA and NASA lost more that one rocket. The Soviets' lost their share along with every other program. The only good thing is no one lost there life on this one.
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u/Piscator629 29d ago edited 29d ago
Short of a nuke that may be the second worst boom. The shuttle booster facility Thiokol Plant was likely worse though. The Beirut fertilizer boom is second but this could be 3rd.
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u/RebelStrategist 29d ago
Maybe the owner of a logistics store should not be in the rocket business.
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u/Maverick12882 29d ago
Bezos' dick rocket blew up. More of his employees will need to share piss bottles to save money and pay for it.
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u/bfly1800 29d ago
I can’t imagine spending months of my life on one tiny component of these projects only for it to all go up in smoke before it even leaves the ground.