Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket unleashed a massive fireball into the sky as it exploded during a test on Thursday, in the latest blow to billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space ambitions.
Footage showed the towering rocket erupt in an inferno, followed by a mushroom cloud of smoke as bystanders gathered to watch the launch gasp “Oh no!” and “Oh my God!”
Bezos’ space company Blue Origin in a statement posted on X said it had experienced an “anomaly” during the test in Cape Canaveral in Florida, and that “all personnel have been accounted for.”
Photo: @JConcilu on X / AFP
The explosion is the latest setback to the Amazon boss’ position in the frenzied race between private companies pushing for space exploration.
“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.”
The New Glenn rocket, which stands at 98m, is at the heart of Blue Origin’s space ambitions, particularly in its battle against Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is developing the biggest rocket in history, Starship.
Musk offered his condolences, calling the accident “most unfortunate.”
The disaster comes weeks after the New Glenn rocket failed a mission to deliver a communications satellite into the correct orbit, prompting an investigation.
Although the company successfully reused and recovered a booster for the rocket, the uncrewed mission did not deliver the satellite from AST SpaceMobile.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had said it required Blue Origin to conduct a “mishap investigation,” which was completed earlier this month.
“The FAA has approved our NG-3 report, and corrective measures have been implemented,” Blue Origin said last week, adding that thermal conditions caused one of the rocket’s engines to not achieve its full thrust, which led it to miss its target orbit.
Florida Congressman Mike Haridopolos, whose district includes Cape Canaveral, said in a statement on X that he has been in contact with NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman regarding 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.
NASA and Blue Origin had been working together to develop a lunar lander for its Artemis lunar missions.
Isaacman said NASA was aware of the explosion.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” he 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.”
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