At around 9 p.m. Eastern Time on 28 May, the megarocket New Glenn from Blue Origin exploded on Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a static test at full fuel load (no liftoff, just engine ignition on the ground). No one was hurt. The programme - on the floor.

The company put out a brief statement that „all personnel are accounted for." Jeff Bezos spoke up personally: „It's far too early to know the root cause, but we're already working on it. A very hard day, but we'll rebuild." From NASA, administrator Jared Isaacman announced cooperation with partners on a thorough investigation. Elon Musk chimed in with one of those lines that double as condolence and reminder: „Very unfortunate. Rockets are hard. I hope they recover quickly."

The cost of this failure is more than one rocket. Twelve launches are planned for 2026, with 24 contracted launches for the satellite network Amazon Leo. Those will slip, or Bezos will have to hand them to another carrier - most likely SpaceX. The same potential slippage applies to missions for NASA's lunar programme Artemis and to the national security contracts of the Pentagon.

The competition between Blue Origin and SpaceX was, in recent days, being decided by a specific number of launches. Today it was decided by a single explosion. Musk can afford diplomacy - he doesn't have to attack, he just has to wait. For Bezos, this is a story with a clear conclusion: money isn't what's missing, time is. And time is now working against him.