Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded on the pad at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as the result of an anomaly during a static fire test on Thursday, May 28. The test was in preparation for a planned launch as soon as June 4. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday night, in a major setback for Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos.
The rocket erupted in a giant fire ball that engulfed the launch pad at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 UTC) as the engines appeared to be igniting for a pre-launch test known as a static fire. New Glenn had been slated to launch a batch of satellites for another Bezos venture, Amazon Leo, as soon as Thursday, June 4.
“All personnel are accounted for and safe. It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Bezos wrote in a post on social media. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
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