A massive explosion engulfed Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on its launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the evening of April 30 local time during an engine test. The incident ignited the entire rocket, sending a towering column of fire and smoke into the sky.
Video footage showed smoke beginning to billow from beneath the rocket before it erupted into a giant fireball. Emergency crews remained on site for more than an hour, but officials said there was no danger from the smoke or other potential threats. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
"We experienced an anomaly during today's engine test," Blue Origin announced on X. The company said all personnel had been accounted for and were safe. A hotfire test is a routine procedure in which a rocket's engines are ignited while it remains strapped to the ground.
In a separate post, Jeff Bezos said it was too early to determine the root cause of the incident. "A tough day, but we will rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it," the Amazon founder wrote.
U.S. Representative Mike Haridopolos, whose Florida district includes the launch site at Cape Canaveral, said he had contacted acting NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman about the accident. "I am grateful no injuries were reported and thank the first responders, engineers and launch team for their quick action," Haridopolos said.
The failure is the latest blow to Bezos' space ambitions as Blue Origin prepares to launch 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low Earth orbit, aiming to build a broadband network to compete with Elon Musk's Starlink system. Musk responded on X to the explosion video, writing: "Unfortunately. Rockets are truly hard to build."
Last month, a New Glenn rocket failed during a mission to deploy a telecommunications satellite into the correct orbit, prompting the company to launch an investigation.
