A Blue Origin rocket exploded on the launch tower in a fiery blast throughout a take a look at of its engines on Thursday night time, the corporate mentioned.
The static hearth take a look at on the Cape Canaveral House Pressure station in Florida got here in preparation for the corporate’s upcoming launch of its New Glenn rocket, which aimed to ship 48 Amazon satellites into low-earth orbit.
In a statement on social media, Blue Origin mentioned the rocket “skilled an anomaly throughout at the moment’s hotfire take a look at.”
In a separate post, Blue Origin proprietor Jeff Bezos, mentioned: “All personnel are accounted for and protected. It’s too early to know the basis trigger however we’re already working to search out it. Very tough day, however we’ll rebuild no matter wants rebuilding and get again to flying. It’s value it.”
In a press release on social media, Sheriff Wayne Ivey of Brevard County, Florida, the place Cape Canaveral is situated, mentioned there have been no reported accidents, “and the present plan is to permit the contained hearth from the explosion to burn itself out.”
The sheriff mentioned there isn’t a hazard or risk to the group.
A static hearth engine take a look at is when the rocket’s engines are ignited and run at full thrust whereas the automobile is hooked up to the launch tower. The automobile is unable to go anyplace throughout the take a look at. The aim is to confirm that every little thing works underneath actual working circumstances earlier than committing to an precise launch.
A screenshot from a video exhibiting the second the Blue Origin rocket exploded on Might 28, 2026.
Courtesy @NASASpaceflight/X
The incident is a big setback for Blue Origin. The upcoming mission would have been solely the fourth time the rocket had flown, and Thursday’s explosion adopted an earlier failed mission by which the corporate was unable to efficiently place a business payload within the correct orbit.
NASA has contracted Blue Origin to offer lunar landers for the Artemis and Moon Base packages. The landers would want the corporate’s New Glenn rocket to get into orbit.
In a press release, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman mentioned the house company was conscious of the incident.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and creating new heavy-lift launch functionality is awfully troublesome,” Isaacman mentioned within the assertion. “We are going to work with our companions to help a radical investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get again to launching rockets.”
Isaacman added: ”We are going to present info on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base packages because it turns into out there.”
