Blue Origin rocket explodes in ground test, dealing blow to Jeff Bezos’ space ambitions
WASHINGTON: A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded during a ground engine test late on Thursday, dealing a major setback to Jeff Bezos’ space company as it pushes to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the growing commercial space race.
Footage shared online by spaceflight livestream channel NASA Spaceflight showed the uncrewed rocket igniting on the launchpad before erupting into a huge fireball that sent flames and thick smoke high into the night sky at the company’s Florida launch site.
Blue Origin later confirmed that an “anomaly” had occurred during a hot-fire test, a procedure in which rocket engines are ignited while the vehicle remains secured to the ground. The company said all staff had been accounted for and that an investigation into the cause of the explosion was underway.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more,” the company said in a statement posted on X.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the US space agency was monitoring the situation and would assess whether the incident could affect future lunar missions under the Artemis programme and related Moon Base projects.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” Isaacman wrote on X, adding that NASA would support efforts to investigate the cause of the accident and evaluate its impact on upcoming missions.
Earlier this week, NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to deliver lunar rovers to the moon’s surface using the company’s Mark 1 cargo lander as part of broader Artemis exploration plans.
Bezos also commented on the incident, saying it was too early to determine the root cause of the explosion but vowing that the company would recover from the setback.
“Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it,” he said.
The failed test marks another challenge for Blue Origin’s New Glenn programme, which has been under development for nearly a decade at a cost of billions of dollars. The 29-storey rocket is designed with a reusable first-stage booster and is intended to rival SpaceX’s Falcon rockets and eventually compete with the more powerful Starship system.
Blue Origin had announced just a day earlier that it was preparing New Glenn to launch 48 Amazon low-Earth orbit satellites as part of an effort to build a broadband internet network capable of competing with SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Musk reacted briefly to footage of the explosion on X, writing: “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.”
The US Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of the incident but noted that it fell outside the agency’s regulatory scope and had not disrupted regional air traffic.
