A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday evening, marking a significant setback for Jeff Bezos's space company and casting doubt on NASA's ambitious lunar base and crewed moon landing timelines.
The explosion occurred seconds after the start of the scheduled hotfire test at 9 p.m. ET, engulfing the launchpad in a massive fireball. The orange glow was visible as far away as Fort Pierce, 115 miles to the south, and residents in South Carolina reported seeing a bright light in the sky. Shockwaves rattled homes in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach, prompting a flurry of social media posts from bewildered residents.
Blue Origin confirmed no personnel were harmed, describing the incident as an anomaly. Founder Jeff Bezos tweeted that all employees were safe and uninjured, but called it a very rough day. We are already working to find the root cause and will rebuild whatever needs rebuilding, he added.
The explosion comes at a critical time for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon by 2027 and build a lunar base. Just two days earlier, NASA announced Blue Origin had won a contract to launch the first of three missions to begin constructing its $20 billion moon base. New Glenn rockets are also slated to carry Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander for the Artemis III mission, which will test landing systems for future crewed flights.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman acknowledged the severity of the incident, stating that spaceflight is unforgiving and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. He pledged to support a thorough investigation and assess near-term mission impacts, promising updates on any effects to the Artemis and Moon Base programs.
The explosion marks the latest in a series of setbacks for Blue Origin as it competes with Elon Musk's SpaceX for NASA contracts. Last month, a New Glenn payload ended up in the wrong orbit, leading to a temporary grounding by the Federal Aviation Administration. Thursday's test was the first static fire since the FAA cleared the rocket to return to flight last week. The FAA has not yet commented on whether it will launch a new investigation.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk offered his condolences, remarking, Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.
Emergency officials confirmed no threat from fumes or other hazards, though flames continued to burn at the launchpad more than two hours after the explosion. The incident has raised questions about the viability of Blue Origin's timeline for delivering lunar landers and supporting NASA's moon ambitions.
Blue Origin also has interests in space tourism. Last April, the company sent an all-female crew including Gayle King and Katy Perry on a suborbital flight.
