A faulty main oxygen valve was found to be the cause of Blue Origin’s rocket explosion that brought all launches to a standstill several months ago.
“The anomaly originated at the main oxygen valve on one of the BE-4 engines, which was later confirmed by hardware recovery and inspections,” the commercial spacefaring company’s CEO, Dave Limp, said on X on Aug. 5.
“Extensive component-level and engine hotfire tests have been conducted to understand the failure mode better and inform mitigations. The path forward is clear.”
The explosive anomaly occurred on May 28 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a hotfire test of a New Glenn rocket—the company’s flagship semi-reusable heavy-lift rocket that has the capability to deliver multiple tons of hardware to and beyond Low Earth Orbit—ahead of a scheduled launch….