So guys — Ars Technica just published one of my absolute favorite pieces by Eric Berger on how long Blue Origin's launch pad rebuild is going to take, and they pulled in a whole squad of SpaceX vets who lived through the AMOS-6 fiasco firsthand! I was hooked immediately because Hans Koenigsmann (who led that Falcon 9 investigation back in fall '16) said literally everything about New Glenn made his "AMos-6 scar start itching" — and what struck me is how he called it *terrible* while urging Blue Origin to be as transparent with NASA/FAA as SpaceX was. But honestly the article's deeper than that: John Muratore sat on console in early September 2016 watching propellant flow onto Falcon 9 ahead of a launch two days later, and his quote — "It came out of nowhere and it was really violent" — is basically poetry for anyone who watched that fireball destroy both the rocket *and* much of its site plus AMOS-6 itself. Fast-forward to May 28 when Blue Origin's New Glenn static fire went spectacular a few miles down Florida coast, reaching engine ignition before exploding too! Both programs were on cusp toward higher launch cadence at time (NASA counting Falcon 9 for human return in '16, now depending on NG for lunar ambitions) and both catastrophically wrecked their pads — uncanny parallels.
But here's where the article gets meaty: Koenigsmann points out that while investigation was main obstacle to SpaceX returning flight, *launch pad availability* will be bigger hurdle altogether for Blue Origin! Their closest analog story is actually rebuilding Space Launch Complex-40 itself at Cape Canaveral — SpaceX wasn't allowed begin reconstruction work until January 2017 (delay stemmed from ongoing grid-by-grid debris examination and cataloging), plus launch site remediation. Muratore said their team spent four full months redesigning SLC-40 during that investigation phase while Trip Harriss led Falcon fleet operations in '16 — they deployed drones, aircraft with sensitive gear into the wetlands surrounding pad searching for upper stage pieces (farthest components from ground being nearest most energetic explosion part), and at one point literally got a submersible down inside flame trench looking for rocket debris…only to pull out huge chunks of concrete. Hurricane Matthew forced them abandon search efforts in early October! SpaceX returned flight within 5 months using upgraded Vandenberg pad with densified propellant Full Thrust variant, then launched from KSC's Launch Complex-39A (which they'd leased) just one month later — but launch pads are incredibly complex infrastructure requiring huge amounts of steel for tall towers and massive pours of concrete for foundation, flame trench, surrounding areas. Blue Origin's situation looks even more serious since *one of their giant launch towers actually toppled during static fire*, other tower seems seriously damaged too, plus visible collapse in concrete under rocket itself — so structurally there could be significant work ahead before they're at full capacity.
What I love about this piece is how Koenigsmann warns that every anomaly's different (he was VP of build and flight reliability during AMOS-6 when his team tracked down the complex failure in pressure vessel lining inside upper stage), plus Blue Origin still hasn't publicly discussed New Glenn cause while speculation points toward BE-4 engine issue. Eric closes with "Everyone is in place where it’s no fun to be there" — so basically same situation we saw 10 years ago, except now it's happening on a new rocket and bigger pad! Really makes me think about how both companies are learning from history while building their own futures out of those beautiful concrete scars.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/06/how-long-will-it-take-to-rebuild-blue-origins-launch-pad-we-asked-some-spacex-vets/
But here's where the article gets meaty: Koenigsmann points out that while investigation was main obstacle to SpaceX returning flight, *launch pad availability* will be bigger hurdle altogether for Blue Origin! Their closest analog story is actually rebuilding Space Launch Complex-40 itself at Cape Canaveral — SpaceX wasn't allowed begin reconstruction work until January 2017 (delay stemmed from ongoing grid-by-grid debris examination and cataloging), plus launch site remediation. Muratore said their team spent four full months redesigning SLC-40 during that investigation phase while Trip Harriss led Falcon fleet operations in '16 — they deployed drones, aircraft with sensitive gear into the wetlands surrounding pad searching for upper stage pieces (farthest components from ground being nearest most energetic explosion part), and at one point literally got a submersible down inside flame trench looking for rocket debris…only to pull out huge chunks of concrete. Hurricane Matthew forced them abandon search efforts in early October! SpaceX returned flight within 5 months using upgraded Vandenberg pad with densified propellant Full Thrust variant, then launched from KSC's Launch Complex-39A (which they'd leased) just one month later — but launch pads are incredibly complex infrastructure requiring huge amounts of steel for tall towers and massive pours of concrete for foundation, flame trench, surrounding areas. Blue Origin's situation looks even more serious since *one of their giant launch towers actually toppled during static fire*, other tower seems seriously damaged too, plus visible collapse in concrete under rocket itself — so structurally there could be significant work ahead before they're at full capacity.
What I love about this piece is how Koenigsmann warns that every anomaly's different (he was VP of build and flight reliability during AMOS-6 when his team tracked down the complex failure in pressure vessel lining inside upper stage), plus Blue Origin still hasn't publicly discussed New Glenn cause while speculation points toward BE-4 engine issue. Eric closes with "Everyone is in place where it’s no fun to be there" — so basically same situation we saw 10 years ago, except now it's happening on a new rocket and bigger pad! Really makes me think about how both companies are learning from history while building their own futures out of those beautiful concrete scars.
Source: https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/06/how-long-will-it-take-to-rebuild-blue-origins-launch-pad-we-asked-some-spacex-vets/