A Blue Origin rocket exploded on the launch tower in a fiery blast throughout a check of its engines on Thursday evening, the corporate mentioned.
The static fireplace check on the Cape Canaveral House Drive 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 right now’s hotfire check.”
In a separate post, Blue Origin proprietor Jeff Bezos, mentioned: “All personnel are accounted for and secure. 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.”
A static fireplace engine check is when the rocket’s engines are ignited and run at full thrust whereas the car is connected to the launch tower. The car is unable to go wherever through the check. The aim is to confirm that every little thing works underneath actual working situations earlier than committing to an precise launch.
A screenshot from a video displaying the second the Blue Origin rocket exploded on Could 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 applications. The landers would want the corporate’s New Glenn rocket to get into orbit.
In an announcement, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman mentioned the area company was conscious of the incident.
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and growing new heavy-lift launch functionality is awfully tough,” Isaacman mentioned within the assertion. “We’ll work with our companions to assist an intensive investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get again to launching rockets.”
Isaacman added: ”We’ll present data on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base applications because it turns into out there.”
