A New Glenn rocket erupted in a massive fireball during a pre-launch test, marking yet another major setback for Blue Origin as it struggles to resume operations of its partially reusable vehicle. New Glenn exploded on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday night, sending a towering cloud of flames toward the sky. The company later confirmed that the rocket experienced an anomaly during a hot fire test, Blue Origin wrote on X. Blue Origin’s founder Jeff Bezos also stated that the company’s personnel were all accounted for and safe. “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Bezos wrote on X. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying.” Rocket, interrupted New Glenn was being prepped to launch a batch of Amazon’s Leo satellites for its fourth mission, NG-4. Blue Origin recently received clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume flights of its New Glenn rocket following a previous mishap.
During its third mission on April 19, the rocket’s second stage suffered a malfunction, causing New Glenn to place its payload in a lower orbit than planned. The anomaly led to the loss of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite, part of a constellation designed to provide direct connectivity to smartphones.
