An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad during a test on Thursday, in a major setback for Jeff Bezos’ space venture as it seeks to narrow the gap with Elon Musk’s IPO-bound SpaceX.
Video posted by NASASpaceflight, a YouTube channel that live-streams launches from Florida, showed the New Glenn igniting on the pad before erupting into a massive fireball that billowed skyward, sending a towering plume of flames and smoke into the air.
Blue Origin said it had experienced an “anomaly”, a term commonly used by rocket companies to describe a launch failure or explosion.
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“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 post on X. A hot-fire test is where a rocket engine is fired up while anchored to the ground.
Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency was aware of the incident.
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“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,” he said on X.