Blue Origin rocket explodes during ground test

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket experienced an anomaly during a ground test known as a hotfire Thursday, the company shared on X.

Video captured from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida Thursday evening appears to show a rocket exploding on its launchpad.

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“All personnel are accounted for and safe,” Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin’s founder, said in a separate X post. “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.”

The company announced New Glenn’s plans to return to flight earlier this week after a failure during the rocket’s third flight on April 19 prompted a Federal Aviation Administration investigation. During the April mission, the rocket’s first stage booster landed successfully on a seafaring barge, but the upper portion, or second stage, of the rocket didn’t manage to deliver its payload — AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite — to a safe orbit.

New Glenn’s fourth mission was intended to carry 48 satellites to join Amazon Leo’s broadband constellation.

“The FAA is aware that the Blue Origin New Glenn vehicle experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida around 9 p.m. local time on May 28,” the agency said in a statement to CNN. “This test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities. There was no impact to air traffic. Please contact Blue Origin for more information.”

Blue Origin did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

“NASA is aware of the anomaly that occurred tonight at Launch Complex 36 involving Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,” NASA chief Jared Isaacman said on X Thursday. “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.”

CNN’s Ashley Strickland and Amanda Jackson contributed to this report.

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