{"id":288676,"date":"2026-05-29T09:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/288676\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T09:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T09:45:09","slug":"after-blue-origin-rocket-explodes-mike-haridopolos-prays-for-floridas-space-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/288676\/","title":{"rendered":"After Blue Origin rocket explodes, Mike Haridopolos prays for Florida\u2019s Space Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Congressman Mike Haridopolos<\/a> said he is grateful no one was reported hurt after Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket exploded at Kennedy Space Center as he praised public responders and crew for reacting fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have already spoken with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman regarding the explosion of Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket tonight at Kennedy Space Center,\u201d Haridopolos said in a statement about Thursday night\u2019s explosion.<\/p>\n

He added he was \u201cthankful for the first responders, engineers, and launch crews who acted quickly. Praying for Florida\u2019s Space Coast and everyone involved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Haridopolos is<\/a> the House Chairman of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.<\/p>\n

The rocket belonging to Amazon owner Jeff Bezos blew up Thursday night with an explosion that shook homes and turned the sky orange, the Associated Press reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Blue Origin said its New Glenn rocket<\/a> exploded during an engine-firing test being conducted ahead of a satellite launch planned for next week. No one was hurt, according to officials at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early to know the root cause but we\u2019re already working to find it,\u201d Bezos said via X. \u201cVery rough day, but we\u2019ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The massive New Glenn was grounded<\/a> in April after it left a satellite in the wrong orbit because of engine failure. It was only the third flight of the rocket that Blue Origin intends to use to launch landers to the moon for NASA,<\/a> including the landers that will take astronauts to the lunar surface.<\/p>\n

The company had been on track to launch a prototype lunar lander to the moon on a flight test this fall. Earlier this week, the space agency awarded Blue Origin a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a pair of moon buggies in the next few years as part of the Artemis program.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,\u201d Isaacman said via X. He promised to provide information on any impacts to the Artemis program, including the moon base that he recently outlined.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Homes shook in nearby Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach around 9 p.m., with residents turning to social media to wonder what happened. Launch Complex 36 is visible from the beach, and the internet quickly filled with photos of an orange fireball.<\/p>\n

The rocket was supposed to blast off next week with internet satellites that are part of the Amazon Leo constellation in orbit.<\/p>\n

Emergency crews remained more than an hour after the explosion. Officials stressed there was no threat due to fumes or other potential hazards.<\/p>\n

Space Force officials said the explosion would not affect upcoming launches by other companies from other pads. United Launch Alliance\u2019s Atlas V rocket is due to blast off Friday night with a batch of Amazon Leo satellites, the same kind that this rocket was supposed to take up.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s Elon Musk, who\u2019s had his own share of rocket explosions, offered his condolences. \u201cSorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly,\u201d he told Blue Origin via X.<\/p>\n

Towering at 321 feet (98 meters), New Glenn made its debut in 2025. It is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, and is much bigger and more powerful than the New Shepard rockets that have carried tourists to the fringes of space from Texas.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Associated Press contributed to this report<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. Congressman Mike Haridopolos said he is grateful no one was reported hurt after Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13372,28,30,29,16921,8882,312],"class_list":["post-288676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-blue-origin","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-kennedy-space-center","tag-mike-haridopolos","tag-space-coast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}