Blue Origin wants to launch its rocket again before the end of the year

“We will fly again before the end of the year,” Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin, wrote on X on June 2. He ended the post with the phrase “Gradatim Ferociter”, the company’s slogan meaning “step by step and fiercely”.

In the post, Limp also shared about the extent of damage to Space Launch Complex 36 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This launch pad suffered heavy damage when Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket suddenly exploded during testing on May 28.

According to Limp, the propellant storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanks, liquid hydrogen and oxygen are all in good condition. “This is fortunate because these things have a very long manufacturing time,” he said.

Blue Origin CEO added that the water tower, Never Tell Me The Odds booster stage and the three GS-2 second stages of the New Glenn rocket present at the integration facility at that time appeared to be in good condition. The large support tower at the launch pad was damaged, but could be repaired on site instead of having to be demolished and replaced.

The equipment used to transport and erect the rocket at the launch pad was destroyed beyond repair. But according to Limp, instead of being rebuilt, it will be replaced with another structure that Blue Origin has been researching for quite some time.

Theo SpaceSpace Launch Complex 36 is currently the only launcher equipped to launch New Glenn rockets. Therefore, the decommissioning of this launch pad will affect Blue Origin’s efforts to prove New Glenn’s reliability with partners such as Amazon or NASA. Amazon has signed a contract with Blue Origin to launch several Leo Internet satellites into orbit, while NASA also needs New Glenn for Artemis, the program aimed at establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon.

Previously, NASA Director Jared Isaacman said that it would take “considerable time” to restore the launch pad damaged from the rocket explosion. In an interview on the sidelines of the CEO Council’s Summit CNBC On June 1, he commented that the 2028 timeline to complete the launch pad repair is “absolutely possible”.

Isaacman said sending a lander to the Moon requires a rocket with a large capacity. Therefore, NASA can use Facon Heavy – a heavy rocket developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company. “In terms of heavy payload launch capacity, we have SpaceX and Blue Origin, but clearly one of the two companies is losing the launch pad,” Isaacman said.

Theo ReutersBlue Origin spent billions of dollars and took about a decade to develop New Glenn, a two-stage rocket 98 meters high and named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. With the ability to carry 50 tons into low Earth orbit, it is nearly as powerful as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and nearly twice as powerful as United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket. New Glenn’s first stage is designed to be reusable, expected to be able to fly at least 25 times.