Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Explodes on Launchpad

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on its launchpad at Cape Canaveral Thursday night during a hotfire test, sending a fireball into the sky and creating a major setback for Jeff Bezos's space company. The explosion occurred around 9 p.m. ET as engineers were counting down to a brief test firing of the rocket's seven methane-fueled BE-4 first-stage engines. Shockwaves were felt along Florida's space coast, and residents in South Carolina, hundreds of miles north, reported seeing a glow in the sky.

Bezos posted on X that "all personnel are accounted for and safe." Elon Musk responded with "Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard." Amazon stock was down 1% in premarket trading, and AST SpaceMobile dropped 13%. Both companies depend on Blue Origin for satellite launches. The destroyed New Glenn was due to launch 48 Amazon Leo satellites in early June, part of Amazon's effort to build a broadband constellation to rival Musk's Starlink. Amazon is under FCC pressure to deploy thousands of satellites this year and more than 3,000 by 2029 to avoid losing wireless spectrum licenses. That timeline now slips.

United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture, uses the same BE-4 engines for its Vulcan rocket and could face delays while Blue Origin investigates the failure. Other space stocks also fell in sympathy. Rocket Lab dropped almost 6% premarket despite having its own launch capabilities. Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, and Voyager Technologies were all down between 1% and 6%.

The NASA stakes are also significant. The explosion occurred only two days after NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to land rovers on the moon's surface. Blue Origin is also building lunar landers for the Artemis program in competition with SpaceX. Blue Origin has only one New Glenn pad, the one damaged on Thursday. When SpaceX had a similar on-pad explosion in 2016, that pad was out of action for over a year.

This was the first static fire test since the FAA cleared New Glenn to return to flight last week, following an investigation into the April 19 third flight where the rocket's upper stage failed to deliver AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite to safe orbit. SpaceX handles more than half of all orbital launches worldwide and is on the cusp of an IPO that could value it at $2 trillion. This explosion means less competition for Starlink, and a longer runway for SpaceX to consolidate market share.

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Federal Judge Blocks Trump's $1.8 Billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund"

A federal judge in Virginia temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Friday from setting up its $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," halting all activity around the fund pending further legal review. The order from US District Judge Leonie Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia bars the DOJ from "taking any further action" to set up or operate the fund, including transferring money, processing claims, or disbursing payments. The injunction will remain in effect at least until June 12, when Brinkema will hold a hearing on whether to issue a more lasting pause.

The fund was created earlier this month as part of an unprecedented settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax records by an IRS employee. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump's former criminal defense lawyer, announced the $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who claim they were victims of "lawfare" and "weaponization" by previous administrations.

The money is being drawn from the DOJ's Judgment Fund, taxpayer money set aside by Congress for monetary settlements. The fund has faced bipartisan criticism. Senate Republican leaders last week punted a vote on a GOP package to fund ICE and the Border Patrol until June in part because of concerns over the funding. Critics on both sides have called it a "slush fund," with particular anger over the prospect of Capitol rioters from January 6, 2021, receiving taxpayer-funded payouts.

The legal challenge argues the fund violates the separation of powers, the First Amendment, the equal-protection clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act. The plaintiffs specifically challenge the use of the Judgment Fund, arguing the underlying IRS case was "meritless" given Trump's unique role as both plaintiff and head of the executive branch that houses the agency he sued.

Brinkema, a Clinton appointee, wrote in a pointed footnote that maintaining the status quo was "especially" important because DOJ lawyers were "unable to provide assurances of how long the status quo would last" and declined to commit to holding off on transferring money or processing claims until at least June 19. No money has been disbursed yet, and Blanche has not named the five commissioners who would evaluate claims. The Justice Department has said it intends to draw the $1.776 billion before July 17.