A Blue Origin rocket exploded into a giant fireball on a launchpad during a routine test on Thursday night.
The New Glenn rocket was undergoing a ‘hotfire test’ at Launch Pad 36 at around 9pm at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida when it burst into flames, Florida Today reports.
Shocking footage from the scene showed the launch pad start to light up as smoke erupted from the base of the rocket.
But soon, the base exploded into a ball of fire that soon consumed the entire rocket and later the entire launchpad.
The explosion sent a giant ball of fire stretching into the sky.
In a brief statement, Blue Origin officials posted on X: ‘We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.’
There were no reported injuries in the explosion and Brevard County Emergency Management officials said there was no threat to the general public.
But following the explosion, residents across the Space Coast called local authorities to report sounds of an explosion, with dispatchers in nearby Cocoa Beach taking at least three calls, according to Florida Today.
The New Glenn rocket was undergoing a ‘hotfire test’ at Launch Pad 36 at around 9pm at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida when it burst into flames
The explosion sent a giant ball of fire stretching into the sky
Residents across the Space Coast called local authorities to report sounds of an explosion, with dispatchers in nearby Cocoa Beach taking at least three calls
The hotfire, or static fire, test is supposed to check fueled rockets to ensure everything runs smoothly on launch day.
Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 said officials are now working with Blue Origin and ‘appropriate partners’ to determine what may have caused the explosion.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos also posted online that it is ‘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,’ he vowed on X. ‘It’s worth it.’
The rocket that was destroyed on Thursday night was the third-ever New Glenn rocket manufactured at the company’s nearby factory on Merritt Island.
The 320-foot tall New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn – the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, was expected to soon launch 48 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Blue Origin has not announced a target liftoff date for the mission, but the rocket had been slated to launch as early as June 4, according to a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory.
The agency had just cleared the heavy-lift rocket last week for the mission after a different issue on its third flight, in which the upper stage was not able to put its payload into the correct orbit after one of its two engines malfunctioned, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
The 320-foot tall New Glenn rocket was expected to soon launch 48 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit
The scheduled launch would be the first of 24 such missions, with Blue Origin CEO Jeff Limp indicating earlier this year that his goal was to fly at least eight missions in 2026 alone.
It is unclear how the rocket explosion may now affect those plans, after it heavily damaged the launchpad – the only one Blue Origin has for its New Glenn rockets, The New York Times reports.
Repairs will likely take months to complete.
But other launches scheduled for Friday from Cape Canaveral should not be affected.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
