That launch pad damage is going to be a massive setback for them. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is down for a year plus. That was their only New Glenn launchpad so it’s not like they have other options. So we are really down to a SpaceX Starship for Artemis 3 if they can get remotely close to being ready at some point. Yesterday I would have told you that Blue Origin was our only hope at staying close to the new timelines. At this point, I will be shocked if we land on the moon before 2032 at the absolute earliest.

I like Administration for National Aeronautics Launches myself if we’re doing a naming competition.

Grabs more attention

NASA just made a rocket - the Space Launch System. It was ridiculously more expensive than SpaceX's rocket. And the Space Shuttle before that was also very expensive and suboptimal.

I am not a private sector fundamentalist (fuck privatized healthcare), but rocket launches is one area where the private sector has proven better than the public sector.

My sweet summer child, where do you think NASA actually gets its rockets from? You think they build them themselves? You think there were federal employees bending metal and turning wrenches at the space shuttle factory?

The difference is design and oversight. With a NASA vehicle, the government is in charge of the design process and construction, although these tasks are mostly done by outside companies on government contracts. With a company like SpaceX or Blue Origin, the design and testing and operation is done by the company who then sells launch contracts to NASA.

If you think the government can do better, I encourage you to take a look at SLS.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/12/six-years-after-orions-first-spaceflight-america-still-waits-for-an-encore/ This is a few years old but it's very relevant. As of 2020, NASA had spent more on the Orion vehicle and one flight than SpaceX had spent cumulatively on all space activities combined (including falcon, dragon, Merlin, starlink, and the beginnings of starship)

believe me, I am all for public space. The problem is Congress fucking sucks. And also NASA can't afford as much as said private corporations

We have that already: NASA's Space Launch System.

It's ... debatable whether it gives better results than commercial contracts.

But how are we gonna make any money on that? What about all the red tape??

hashtag think of the billionaires

Sadly the Chinese private space industry still is miles off SpaceX and their public space programme is while certainly competent AFAIK in many moral ways not much different from SpaceX even ignoring the CCP's issues.

Like I know Long March 5B's issue was solved but the fact that they acted like it didn't need solving is damning

I hope so! But also it's going to need testing and that might take ages. Also New Glenn is competing with Starship / Falcon Heavy iirc so different class

Good sabotage looks like an accident.

I mean. It's high level engineers working on these things. They would know how to make it look like an accident.

username checks out

AI rabbit or filter?

Frankly, it would be more likely to be the Chinese, who have their own manned moon landing planned. We're in a new space race, and most people don't realize it. With this explosion, were in distant second place.

Considering how Bezos manage to get tax cuts, I'd say the US citizens are paying for this.