Blue Origin said all personnel were accounted for after its New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral, prompting a fresh investigation into the company’s heavy-lift launch program.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a ground test at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday, sending a large fireball and thick smoke into the air in the latest setback for Jeff Bezos’s space company.
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The rocket was not launching into space when the explosion occurred. It was undergoing a static fire test, a pre-launch procedure in which engines are ignited while the vehicle remains secured to the launch pad.
Video from the scene showed the 321-foot rocket erupting in flames as spectators reacted with alarm. Some bystanders could be heard saying, “Oh no!” and “Oh my God!” as smoke rose over the launch area.
Blue Origin described the incident as an “anomaly” in a brief statement posted to X and said “all personnel have been accounted for.”
The company said it was still working to determine what caused the explosion.
“It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Bezos wrote on X.
“Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
New Glenn is central to Blue Origin’s effort to compete in the heavy-lift rocket market, where Elon Musk’s SpaceX has taken a dominant position and is developing Starship, the largest rocket in history. New Glenn is expected to support future launches of Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet satellites, NASA missions and commercial payloads.
Musk responded to the accident by offering condolences, calling it “most unfortunate.”
The explosion comes only weeks after a New Glenn mission failed to place a communications satellite into the correct orbit. That uncrewed flight involved a payload from AST SpaceMobile. Although Blue Origin successfully reused and recovered a rocket booster, the mission failed to deliver the satellite as planned.
The Federal Aviation Administration required Blue Origin to conduct a “mishap investigation” after that failed mission. The company said last week that the FAA had approved its NG-3 report and that corrective measures had been put in place.
“The FAA has approved our NG-3 report, and corrective measures have been implemented,” Blue Origin said.
The company said thermal conditions caused one of the rocket’s engines to fall short of full thrust, resulting in the missed orbit.
Thursday’s explosion could create new questions for Blue Origin as it works to prepare New Glenn for future missions. The company has also been working with NASA on a lunar lander for the Artemis program.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos, whose Florida district includes Cape Canaveral, said he had been in contact with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman after the explosion.
“I am grateful there were no reported injuries and thankful for the first responders, engineers, and launch crews who acted quickly,” Haridopolos said on X.
Isaacman said NASA was aware of the incident and would support the review process.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” Isaacman wrote on X.
“We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
NASA plans to test an in-orbit rendezvous between spacecraft and one or two lunar landers in 2027 and conduct a crewed lunar landing before the end of 2028. Those goals depend on multiple technical milestones, and industry experts have repeatedly questioned whether Blue Origin and SpaceX can complete required work on schedule.
For Blue Origin, Thursday’s launch pad explosion adds another complication to an already demanding development timeline as the company tries to prove New Glenn can reliably carry satellites, commercial spacecraft and NASA payloads into orbit.
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