Blue Origin will resume launches this year Bezos: Rocket explosion is a heavy blow

On June 17, Bloomberg reported that Blue Origin was already rebuilding its Florida launch site, creating conditions for the company to resume launches this year and rekindling its ambition to challenge SpaceX. It was there that the company's New Glenn rocket exploded last month.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos told VivaTech, a technology conference in Paris, on Wednesday that part of the launch infrastructure was not damaged in the explosion, including propellant tanks and a booster in the integration facility. The explosion was so powerful that it even produced seismic waves.

"It was a difficult moment," Bezos said of the explosion. "It was a hard blow to the entire team."

The New Glenn rocket is critical to Blue Origin's space exploration plans, but it is years behind schedule and the wait between flights is longer than expected.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said during an onstage discussion at the VivaTech conference that all debris on the launch pad has been cleared. "Just yesterday, we started rebuilding," Limp said. "We will resume launches this year."

The New Glenn rocket will play a key role in NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send humans to the moon again. NASA has awarded Blue Origin a lucrative contract to land a lunar rover on the lunar surface.