Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, has suffered a major setback after its powerful New Glenn rocket exploded during a ground test in Florida.

Days ago, NASA made the dubious announcement that it intended to deploy not one or two but three more missions to the moon in 2026 alone, albeit all uncrewed–exploratory, data-gathering expeditions to...

The mishap could leave the space agency with no alternative than rival SpaceX, a forced choice it has sought to avoid.