Environmental activists in Rome built a mock rocket with caricatures of Giorgia Meloni and Donald Trump, calling for ‘fascists’ to be launched to another planet. The protest condemned government inaction on climate change and the global rise of authoritarian politics.
Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026
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The incident is the latest setback for Jeff Bezos’s space venture as it seeks to narrow the gap with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
By AFP, Reuters and The Associated Press
Published On 29 May 202629 May 2026
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has exploded on the launchpad during a test in the US state of Florida.
The incident on Thursday evening is the latest setback for Jeff Bezos’s space venture as it seeks to narrow the gap with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
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Footage of the incident shows smoke emerging from underneath the rocket before it erupts into a massive fireball that billows skyward, sending a towering plume of flames and smoke into the air.
Emergency crews remained at the scene more than an hour later, but officials said there was no threat from fumes or other potential hazards.
No injuries have been reported.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,” Blue Origin said in a brief statement posted on X, adding that “all personnel have been accounted for”.
A hot-fire test is where a rocket engine is fired up while anchored to the ground.
In a separate X post, Bezos said it was “too early to know the root cause” of the incident.
“Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it,” Bezos added.
US House Representative Mike Haridopolos, whose Florida district includes the launch site at Cape Canaveral, said in a statement on X that he has been in contact with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman regarding the explosion.
“I am grateful there were no reported injuries and thankful for the first responders, engineers, and launch crews who acted quickly,” Haridopolos said.
Blue Origin is preparing the New Glenn rocket to launch 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low-Earth orbit, part of efforts to build a broadband constellation to rival Musk’s Starlink network.
Musk responded on X to a video of the New Glenn explosion, saying: “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.”
Last month, the New Glenn rocket failed a mission to deliver a communications satellite into the correct orbit, prompting an investigation.
April 27 (UPI) — SpaceX‘s first Falcon Heavy rocket in 18 months was called off due to unfavorable weather Monday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rocket, which was meant to carry a ViaSat-3 F3 communications satellite into orbit, was scheduled to launch during an 85-minute window beginning at 10:21 a.m. EDT.
SpaceX announced on social media that the launch would be rescheduled.
“Standing down from today’s Falcon Heavy launch of the @viasat-3 F3 mission due to unfavorable weather,” the company said on X. “Vehicle and payload remain healthy. A new target date will be shared once confirmed.”
The 45th Weather Squadron earlier said that Monday’s launch window had about a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions.
The Falcon Heavy, which last launched in October 2024, uses three modified versions of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage, with an upper stage contained in the central booster. The Falcon Heavy features 5.1 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, making it the second most powerful rocket in current use, after NASA’s Space Launch System moon rocket, which boasts 8.8 million pounds of thrust.
The 6.6-ton ViaSat-3 F3 satellite will head to geostationary orbit 22,236 miles over the surface of the Earth. It will provide broadband coverage to ViaSat’s commercial, defense and consumer customers in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Falcon Heavy rocket made its first flight in 2018, and has since launched for 10 missions, including carrying previous ViaSat-3 satellites into orbit.
Dave Abrahamian, ViaSat’s vice president of satellite systems, said the newest satellite is expected to be ready for use faster than the most recent ViaSat-3 satellite, which was carried into orbit by United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket.
“Falcon Heavy is a more powerful vehicle than Atlas 5 was, so they can put us in a more favorable transfer orbit for the electric propulsion,” Abrahamian told Spaceflight Now.
April 20 (UPI) — The Federal Aviation Administration grounded Blue Origin‘s New Glenn rocket after it botched the release of a satellite following its successful launch two hours earlier.
The third launch of New Glenn and second landing of its reusable booster stage “Never Tell Me The Odds” on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean was a success in those terms, but the spacecraft delivered AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite to an orbit too low for it to operate properly.
Blue Origin said Monday that it is leading an investigation into one of New Glenn’s engines producing insufficient thrust to reach the mission’s target orbit.
“While we were pleased with the nominal booster recovery, we clearly didn’t deliver the mission our customer wanted, and our team expects,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a post on X.
The FAA, NASA, the National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Space Force also have been monitoring the situation and will require Blue Origin to complete its investigation and report on the engine anomaly, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
“A return to flight is based on the FAA determining that any system, process or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety,” the FAA said in explaining why it grounded the rocket.
The New Glenn-3 rocket launched around 7:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday morning, nailing the flight and landing portion of its mission, and successfully released the BlueBird 7 satellite once it reached orbit.
Because one of the two BE-3U engines that power New Glenn’s upper stage didn’t produce sufficient thrust on its second engine burn, which is meant to boost the spacecraft to its target orbit above Earth, it never got there.
Although the satellite was released and powered on properly, the off-nominal orbit — which was too low for it to be useful — AST said it would be jettisoned.
BlueBird 7 is one of 45 satellites that AST SpaceMobile hopes to get in orbit by the end of 2026 as part of a satellite-based cellular network designed to operate with standard smartphones.
The satellite would have been the companies eighth to reach orbit, and it’s share price Feller by more than 6% on Monday, The BBC reported.
Limp said Blue Origin is analyzing data as it conducts the investigation and is “in steady communication with the team at AST SpaceMobile.”
“We appreciate their partnership, and we’re looking forward to many flights together,” Limp said.
April 19 (UPI) — Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket and landed its booster stage, but it delivered a communications satellite into an orbit too low to be useful.
New Glenn-3, the third launch of the company’s rocket, cleared the tower just before 7:30 a.m. EDT on Sunday morning and roughly six minutes later its first stage touched down on the “Jacklyn” drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The fully reusable booster, called “Never Tell Me The Odds,” was making its second landing as the mission hit its second stage engine cutoff, entered orbit and released AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite successfully.
The release was successful and the satellite powered up properly, but had been placed into “an off-nominal orbit,” Blue Origin said in a post on X.
“During the New Glenn 3 mission, BlueBird 7 was placed into a lower than planned orbit by the upper stage of the launch vehicle,” AST said in a press release.
“While the satellite separated from the launch vehicle and powered on, the altitude is too low to sustain operations with its on-board thruster technology and will de-orbited,” the company said. “The cost of the satellite is expected to be recovered under the company’s insurance policy.”
AST’s BlueBird 7 satellite is part of a space-based cellular broadband network the company is building that will be accessible using normal smartphones.
The satellite would have been the eighth the company has put in orbit for the network, has satellites number through 32 in production and expects BlueBird 8, BlueBird 9 and BlueBird 10 to be completed in the next month.
AST said that it plans to continue launching satellites roughly every other month for the rest 2026 using “multiple launch providers,” with a goal of 45 satellites in orbit by the end of the year.
Blue Origin, in addition to launching satellites for commercial and government entities, is also building a prototype MK1 “Endurance” lander as a test vehicle in an uncrewed moon landing later this year, Space.com reported.
The prototype is a test run for its MK2 lunar lander that will be used in NASA’s Artemis program to explore the moon and establish a permanent human presence there.