A few days after a New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad, the damage left behind is coming to light, as Loren Grush writes at Bloomberg: Photos of the blast’s aftermath reveal that the accident caused significant damage to the launchpad infrastructure in Cape Canaveral, Florida, destroying a key apparatus used to support and transport the rocket for flights and causing one of two lightning towers to collapse. Other hardware nearby also appeared considerably scorched. The explosion was so destructive that it generated seismic waves. Rebuilding New Glenn’s sole operational launchpad will likely pose the biggest hurdle to resuming flights. While the company is building a launch site in California, the vast majority of the missions were slated to occur in Florida. How long it will take to rebuild is anyone’s guess, but even with a billionaire owner, Blue Origin is going to need some time. The before and after photos are pretty rough.
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