Blue Origin rocket explodes in fireball during Florida launch test

A Blue Origin rocket exploded into a ball of flames on a launchpad in Florida during a test on Thursday night.

Video footage shows the uncrewed rocket igniting on the launchpad before erupting into a massive fireball, sending a towering plume of flames and smoke into the air.

In a statement on X, Blue Origin confirmed it had experienced an “anomaly” during a hot-fire test, where a rocket engine is fired up while anchored to the ground.

The space technology company was founded in 2000 by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Mr. Bezos said on social media that all personnel were accounted for and confirmed an investigation was underway.

"It’s too early to know the root cause, but we’re already working to find it," he said on X. "Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it."

The 97m New Glenn rocket was due to blast off next week to deliver 48 Amazon Leo satellites into Earth’s orbit.

It comes just two days after NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to land rovers on the moon’s surface.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency would work with Blue Origin to support an investigation of the incident.

"Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult," Isaacman said on X.

Isaacman also added that NASA would provide information on any impacts to its Artemis and Moon Base programs.

The explosion, which took place at 21:00 local time during a test conducted ahead of the rocket’s launch at Cape Canaveral, marks a huge setback for the company’s ambitions to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Elon Musk responded on X to a video of the Blue Origin explosion, saying, “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard."

Blue Origin has spent billions of dollars and roughly a decade developing New Glenn, a rocket 29-stories high with a reusable first stage meant to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon fleet and its more powerful Starship.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it was aware of the incident, but added that it was outside its scope and did not impact air traffic in the region.