Blue Origin's New Glenn Explodes; Pentagon Eyes New Heavy-Lift Launch Site

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded on the Cape Canaveral pad, grounding the orbital program and prompting questions about NASA’s launch cadence, while SpaceX’s Starship shows progress and NASA orders six additional Crew Dragon missions for the ISS. The day’s other headlines include China launching Shenzhou 23 to Tiangong with a year-long stay planned for one crewmate, DARPA funding Voyager’s solid-rocket motor thrust-control work, Virgin Galactic resuming flight testing toward its Delta-class ship, Germany’s Rocket Factory Augsburg upgrading its Helix engine, and the Pentagon pushing for a new heavy-lift spaceport to diversify U.S. launch capacity.