A Blue Origin rocket dramatically erupted into flames during a standard test on Thursday evening, transforming the launchpad into a scene of fiery chaos.
The incident involved the New Glenn rocket, which was in the midst of a “hotfire test” at approximately 9 p.m. at Launch Pad 36, located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to a report by Florida Today.
Video footage captured the dramatic moment when the launch pad began to ignite, with plumes of smoke billowing from the rocket’s base.
Soon after, the base of the rocket exploded into a spectacular fireball, eventually engulfing the entire rocket and spreading to the launchpad.
The explosion sent a massive plume of fire soaring skyward, creating a striking visual against the night sky.
In response to the incident, Blue Origin released a brief statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
There were no reported injuries in the explosion and Brevard County Emergency Management officials said there was no threat to the general public.
But following the explosion, residents across the Space Coast called local authorities to report sounds of an explosion, with dispatchers in nearby Cocoa Beach taking at least three calls, according to Florida Today.
The New Glenn rocket was undergoing a ‘hotfire test’ at Launch Pad 36 at around 9pm at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida when it burst into flames
The explosion sent a giant ball of fire stretching into the sky
Residents across the Space Coast called local authorities to report sounds of an explosion, with dispatchers in nearby Cocoa Beach taking at least three calls
The hotfire, or static fire, test is supposed to check fueled rockets to ensure everything runs smoothly on launch day.
Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 said officials are now working with Blue Origin and ‘appropriate partners’ to determine what may have caused the explosion.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos also posted online that it is ‘too early to know the root cause, but we’re already working to find it.
‘Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying,’ he vowed on X. ‘It’s worth it.’
The rocket that was destroyed on Thursday night was the third-ever New Glenn rocket manufactured at the company’s nearby factory on Merritt Island.
The 320-foot tall New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn – the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, was expected to soon launch 48 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Blue Origin has not announced a target liftoff date for the mission, but the rocket had been slated to launch as early as June 4, according to a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory.
The agency had just cleared the heavy-lift rocket last week for the mission after a different issue on its third flight, in which the upper stage was not able to put its payload into the correct orbit after one of its two engines malfunctioned, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The 320-foot tall New Glenn rocket was expected to soon launch 48 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos vowed to ‘rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying’ in a post on X
The scheduled launch would be the first of 24 such missions, with Blue Origin CEO Jeff Limp indicating earlier this year that his goal was to fly at least eight missions in 2026 alone.
It is unclear how the rocket explosion may now affect those plans, after it heavily damaged the launchpad – the only one Blue Origin has for its New Glenn rockets, The New York Times reports.
Repairs will likely take months to complete.
The rocket failure will also affect NASA’s ambitions to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon’s surface, as Blue Origin is one of just two companies that the agency has hired for the mission.
Its plan depends on multiple New Glenn launches to get a lander to the moon.
Under the plans for the Artemis III mission, scheduled to launch next year, NASA astronauts would practice docking their Orion capsule with landers from both Blue Origin and its rival SpaceX while remaining in orbit.
But with the destruction of the launchpad, Blue Origin may not be able to participate.
Jared Isaacman, the new NASA administrator, though, has vowed to work with Blue Origin as it conducts its repairs.
‘Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,’ he posted 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.
‘We will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available,’ he added.
Other launches scheduled for Friday from Cape Canaveral should not be affected.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
