Blue Origin rocket explosion rattles NASA’s mission to put humans back on the Moon

Buoyed by the successful Artemis II mission around the Moon in April , NASA has been ramping up its plans to explore the lunar surface and build a base there. Now, those Moon dreams are in trouble, as one of the aerospace companies heavily involved in executing them — Blue Origin in Kent, Washington — experienced a spectacular explosion during a rocket test in Florida on 28 May. Historic Artemis II Moon fly-by: Nature ’s live coverage as it happened No one was hurt in the blast, but the company’s rocket design is now being re-assessed and its launch facilities are heavily damaged. That leaves NASA at least temporarily without a key partner for its ambitious Moon base plans. A Blue Origin mission was supposed to launch to the Moon later this year using a rocket of the type that just exploded. The mission would have landed near the lunar south pole with an array of scientific and technical instruments, and NASA administrator Jared Isaacman had optimistically rebranded it ‘Moon Base I’ earlier this week to invoke the agency’s ultimate goal of establishing a sustained presence on the Moon. “We will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available,” Isaacman wrote in a statement after the Blue Origin explosion. But some scientists are still optimistic about NASA’s Moon plans. …