There’s more tragedy in the modern space race, but thankfully, no one was hurt as one of Elon Musk’s rockets exploded just minutes after takeoff.
The tech bros are locking horns, and while Musk’s SpaceX might feel way ahead of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, it seems the pair’s past history is spurring them on to beat each other in conquering the cosmos.
Unfortunately, just days after Bezos delayed his New Glenn rocket from going into orbit, SpaceX has faced its own potential setback.
The 400ft Starship rocket was said to be the biggest and most powerful in the world, with the emphasis on the was part of that sentence. Launching at 4:40 p.m. local time from Boca Chica in south Texas, the upper stage of the Starship was said to have been ‘lost’ just minutes later.
The upper section of SpaceX’s Starship was lost just minutes after launch (SpaceX)
Posting on X, SpaceX confirmed: “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn. Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability.”
A host on the SpaceX livestream explained: “It looks like we lost contact a little under eight and a half minutes into the flight.”
Footage doing the rounds on social media shows what looks to be the Starship exploding in a fiery inferno, with balls of light and trails of smoke seen over the Haitian capital of Port-Au-Prince.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was made aware that ‘an anomaly occurred’, issuing a statement confirming it slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where debris was falling. Still, it wasn’t long until normal operations were resumed.
This wasn’t a total failure for SpaceX, with some of the mission going as planned. Following the Starship’s launch, its Super Heavy booster returned to Earth and hovered above the ground before it was gripped by giant mechanical arms. There was rapturous applause from control teams on the ground, but this likely won’t take away from the disaster of the launch in general.
Starship exploding captured on an airplane
Mr. Musk has spoken out about the incident, sharing footage of a fiery trail and adding: “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed!”
With SpaceX picking itself up and dusting itself off, Musk promised there are ‘improved versions’ of the Starship on the way and ‘already waiting for launch.’
He said nothing suggests the next launch will be pushed past next month, so there isn’t long to wait to see Starship hopefully soar to new heights.
As for what caused the latest blunder, he concluded: “Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.”
As for Blue Origin, Bezos finally got the New Glenn off the ground and was met with congratulations by Musk. Somewhat burying the hatchet, the world’s richest man wrote: “Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt! @JeffBezos.”
Featured Image Credit: Anadolu / Contributor / SOPA Images / Contributor / Getty
Elon Musk congratulates Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin’s successful launch as the Amazon billionaire bids to rival SpaceX
The launch was a big win for Blue Origin
Elon Musk has congratulated Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin’s big win.
The space company’s New Glenn rocket successfully blasted into orbit from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7 am GMT on Thursday.
This comes just days after a previous launch attempt was scrapped around 3 am ET (8 am GMT) because ice had built up on one of the propellant lines.
Secured inside the 30-storey tall Blue Origin rocket payload bay is the first prototype of Blue Origin‘s Blue Ring vehicle, a manoeuvrable spacecraft that’s to be sold to Pentagon as well as commercial customers for national security and satellite servicing missions.
As Thursday’s attempt went smoothly, the mission is to land New Glenn’s first-stage booster on a floating barge in the Atlantic Ocean just 10 minutes after lift off.
Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt! @JeffBezos
Second stage engine cutoff confirmed. New Glenn’s second stage and payload are now in orbit. Another burn coming up…
The space race between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos has been nothing short of dramatic. New Glenn is seen as Blue Origin’s answer to SpaceX’s technology, and Bezos has made it clear he’s determined to compete with Musk.
However, the Tesla CEO put rivalry aside – at least for a moment – to congratulate the Amazon founder on the achievement.
“Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt!” Musk wrote on X in response to Blue Origin’s post, reading: “Second stage engine cutoff confirmed. New Glenn’s second stage and payload are now in orbit. Another burn coming up…”
Whether Musk’s comment was sincere or had a hint of slyness is anyone’s guess though.
But in the meantime, Bezos has played it cool, previously stating that he sees ‘no threat’ from Musk’s side.
Bezos has officially joined the ‘space race’ with Blue Origin (The Washington Post / Contributor / Getty)
According to Reuters, the Blue Origin founder shared his optimism about the US government’s space agenda and made it clear he’s confident in Blue Origin’s mission.
“Elon has been very clear that he’s doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value,” Bezos told Reuters.
New Glenn’s launch success is a huge leap for Blue Origin. Named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, it’s five times taller than Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket which takes paying customers on short trips to the edge of space.
A livestream captured the entire event, showing hundreds of employees coming together to watch the launch from Blue Origin’s headquarters in Kent, Washington, and its rocket factory in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Residents of Florida’s east coast from parks and campsites within miles watched the giant rocket take flight.
Featured Image Credit: Cooper Neill/Contributor / LISA O’CONNOR/Contributor / Getty
Jeff Bezos called Blue Origin’s historic rocket launch ‘insane’ just hours before it was called off
The New Glenn rocket is already looking at another launch
The tech billionaire space race is heating up, and as Elon Musk reaches for Mars with SpaceX, the world’s second-richest man is doing his own thing.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the man behind Blue Origin, which was supposed to launch the partially reusable New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time.
Although Blue Origin hopes to rival SpaceX’s private space launch, it’s trailing behind its competitor.
Despite Elon Musk’s closeness to President-elect Donald Trump, Bezos has said he doesn’t think it’ll lead to SpaceX having an unfair advantage. Bezos and Musk might’ve had beef in the past, but before the New Glenn launch, the latter wished his tech rival ‘good luck’.
Unfortunately, this might’ve cursed Blue Origin’s launch.
The New Glenn rocket’s launch was canceled just six minutes before takeoff (Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo / Stringer / Getty)
Bezos’ rocket stands at a whopping 30 stories tall and was supposed to launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:00 am ET on January 13.
Unfortunately, it was called off just six minutes before launch, with ‘anomalies’ being blamed. After being loaded with methane and liquid oxygen propellants, there was confusion when the 10-minute countdown was delayed to 35 minutes. Even as teams hurried around on the ground, Blue Origin eventually said the launch would be postponed due to a ‘vehicle subsystem issue’.
Blue Origin said: “We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window. We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.”
As reported by Ars Technica, Bezos referred to the rocket launch as ‘insane’ the night before its proposed takeoff. Discussing the rocket, Bezos said: “We would certainly like to achieve orbit, and get the Blue Ring Pathfinder into orbit.
“Landing the booster would be gravy on top of that. It’s kind of insane to try and land the booster. A more sane approach would probably be to try to land it into ocean. But we’re gonna go for it.”
Admitting he was ‘worried’ about the launch, Bezos added: “We’ve done a lot of work, we’ve done a lot of testing, but there are some things that can only be tested in flight. And you can’t be overconfident in these things. You have to be real.
We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window. We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.
“The reality is, there are a lot of things that go wrong, and you have to accept that, if something goes wrong, we’ll pick ourselves up and get busy for the second flight.”
Sadly, neither was achieved by Blue Origin.
The delay could be for as little as 24 hours but is expected to be longer due to the stakes of the mission.
This launch is the culmination of over a decade of work and billions of dollars. When it eventually takes off, the rocket hopes to land New Glenn’s first stage booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean within 10 minutes, with the rocket’s second stage heading into orbit.
Inside the payload is payload bay is a prototype for Blue Origin’s Blue Ring vehicle. Blue Origin hopes to sell the maneuverable spacecraft to the Pentagon and others for missions of national security and to service satellites.
New Glenn’s development has been through three Blue Origin CEOs, but more recently, Bezos has prioritized its development under Amazon veteran Dave Limp.
Bezos wanted to compete with SpaceX, with New Glenn tipped to be twice as powerful as its rival’s Falcon 9 rocket. The reusable Falcon 9 is the world’s most active rocket, and while New Glenn is yet to get off the ground, Blue Origin is hot on the heels of SpaceX.
Featured Image Credit: MANDEL NGAN / Contributor / Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty
Elon Musk promises SpaceX will provide Starlink terminals to areas in LA affected by fires
This would provide service to areas that have seen their connections wiped out by the fires
Elon Musk and SpaceX have promised support for areas affected by fires in Los Angeles in the last day, with Starlink providing service that would prove critical for evacuation and emergency efforts.
Mandatory evacuation orders of over 130,000 individuals due to wildfires has seen Los Angeles thrown into chaos over the past day. As reported by Sky News, estimates from LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone indicate that around 1,000 homes and business have been burned so far in the Palisades fire alone, with more destroyed in the smaller separate outbreaks.
Estimated losses from the natural disaster could go beyond $10,000,000,000 according to analysts from JP Morgan, but one of the most significant losses currently in the wildfires comes from the near-complete removal of signal.
This not only makes reporting on the current situation difficult but it also adds unnecessary challenges to the evacuation effort where getting as many individuals to safety as possible is the primary concern as the disaster continues.
Thankfully Elon Musk and SpaceX have pledged to provide “free Starlink terminals to affected areas in LA tomorrow morning [January 9],” following a statement on social media platform X.
SpaceX will provide free Starlink terminals to affected areas in LA tomorrow morning
NEWS: TV crews are using SpaceX’s @Starlink to broadcast their live fire coverage in LA. “The only reason you’re able to see us right now is because of Starlink. There’s absolutely no cell service at all in this whole area.”
Starlink has already been provided to TV crews – including Fox local news which explained that their service was available only because of Starlink, as all cell service was unavailable in the area.
The difference between Starlink and traditional telecommunications coverage is that the former is operated through satellite connection, and thus remains unaffected by any disruption on the ground. This has allowed it to provide service far beyond the realms of traditional connection, and in situations like this it is incredibly useful.
Replies to Musk’s post have praised the SpaceX subsidiary, declaring: “Every time there’s a disaster and the world’s people need internet, Elon comes to the rescue.”
Starlink operates via satellites and thus can continue to provide service where traditional networks cannot (Kirby Lee/Getty Images)
Another adds that “if it wasn’t for you, all these people who have been affected by these fires would have no way to communicate. Thank you and keep up the great work!”
This isn’t the first time that Starlink has ‘come to the rescue’ either, as Musk has previously deployed the network to areas of southern Appalachia that were affected by Hurricane Helene in 2024.
Some have criticized Musk’s ‘politicization’ of access to Starlink, however, and others have indicated that while the use of Starlink is good, changes to Musk-owned X have made it much harder to gain real-time information in events like this.
“This app used to have journalists and outlets at the top of trending for emergencies like these now you can barely find anything,” said one user on X in response to the lack of information regarding the fires.
Social media platforms play a key part in ongoing news, and many believe that Musk’s changes to X – which have also led to an exodus of some media companies – has deteriorated its position within this sphere.
Featured Image Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Staff / VCG/Contributor / Getty
Jeff Bezos issues extremely blunt reply to Elon Musk’s shocking election claim
Their 20-year feud continues
Jeff Bezos has finally publicly responded to Elon Musk.
It’s the battle of the billionaires as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos continue to exchange barbs online. While Musk is once again comfortably the richest man in the world thanks to a post-election boost to his savings pot, Bezos hit a new high of $228 billion thanks to Amazon stock also soaring in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s win.
As the richest people in the world get richer and Trump paves the way for his own technological future, Bezos’ relationship with the upcoming 47th President of the United States continues to be called into question.
Notably, Bezos defended The Washington Post’s decision (he owns the outlet) not to endorse Trump or Harris ahead of the election. Still, he was among the many other tech bros who posted their congratulations, with Bezos calling it an ‘extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory.’ Even if Bezos and Trump seem on fine terms, things are less rosy between the Amazon CEO and Mr. Musk.
Bezos has already congratulated Trump on his win (The Washington Post / Contributor / Staff)
Musk has become Trump’s unofficial right-hand man and has been spending a lot of time at Mar-a-Largo. Posting on X, the platform’s CEO sniped on November 21: “Just found out tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that [Trump] would definitely lose, so they should flog all their Tesla and SpaceX stock.”
Bezos wasted no time trying to smooth things over as he defiantly responded: “Nope. 100% not true.”
The back-and-forth continued, with Musk admitting he might’ve been fed misinformation and concluding: “Well, then, I stand corrected .”
Sounding like the backdrop for a season of Ryan Murphy’s Feud, Bezos and Musk’s troubled relationship goes all the way back to the Amazon CEO touring the SpaceX facility in 2004.
In Christian Davenport’s The Space Barons, Musk reportedly said: “I actually did my best to give good advice, which he [Bezos] largely ignored.”
Nope. 100% not true.
Things escalated when SpaceX tried to get exclusive use to a NASA launchpad in 2013 but was blocked by Bezos’ Blue Origin. Here, Musk referred to it as a ‘phony blocking tactic.’
There were later arguments over patents, backhanded comments about reusable rockets, and SpaceX reportedly setting up an email filter that sifted out the words ‘blue’ and ‘origin’.
The pair are known for the odd jab on social media, with the latest barb being just one of many.
Still, there were plenty in the comments calling for the pair to hash it out in the ring like Jake Paul and KSI keep promising to do.
Musk finds himself firmly at the side of Trump after being appointed the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Despite apparently not getting paid to trim $2 trillion off the government spend, Musk finds himself in a new position of power alongside the POTUS.
As for Bezos, he’s still reeling from The Washington Post drama, with famed editor Marty Baron calling the lack of political endorsement ‘cowardice’ and reports that 200,000 readers canceled their subscriptions.
