Thursday night, May 28, 2026, a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida.
The explosion occurred around 9 pm ET. Blue Origin says there were no injuries from the incident.
This statement was released by Blue Origin: “We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
In a separate statement, Cape Canaveral Space Force confirmed that “all personnel have been accounted for and there are no injuries/fatalities.”
On Thursday evening, Blue Origin was scheduled to fuel the rocket ahead of a planned firing of the rocket’s engines. The company, owned by Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its third New Glenn rocket in April.
This Blue Origin rocket was being prepared for the fourth New Glenn mission for June 4. It will launch 48 satellites for the Amazon Leo internet service that competes with Starlink, owned by Elon Musk.
Blue Origin New Glenn Mission
The 48 satellites were not on the rocket at the time of the testing. It was not clear how much damage was sustained by the launch pad or ground equipment or how long it will take to repair.
The explosion occurred on Space Launch Complex 36. It is the only launch pad equipped for the New Glenn rockets.
The New Glenn rocket is key to Blue Origin and NASA’s plans to build a moon base. The explosion will likely be a setback. The New Glenn is scheduled to launch another Blue Moon lander as part of the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote in a social media post: “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. 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.”
On May 22, the New Glenn rocket was cleared to return to flight after it was grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration, which found an anomaly with the second stage of the April 19 launch.
On Thursday, the FAA said in a statement that it was aware the rocket had “experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The test was not within the scope of FAA-licensed activities.” It added that “there was no impact to air traffic” as a result of the explosion.
Bezos posted on X: “It’s 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. It’s worth it.”
Musk posted, “Sorry to see this; I hope you recover quickly.”
Sources::
CBS News: Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explodes on Launch pad in Florida
CNN: Blue Origin rocket explodes during ground test
CNBC: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explodes in testing
Featured Image Courtesy of NASA Kennedy’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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