An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on the launchpad 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 livestreams launches from Florida, showed the New Glenn igniting on the pad at about 2100 ET (0100 GMT on Friday) before erupting into a massive fireball that billowed skyward, sending a towering plume of flames and smoke into the air.

Blue Origin founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos said it was a ”very rough day” for the company, but it was too early to know the “root cause” of the incident.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded in a massive fireball while undergoing a test on a Florida launchpad Thursday evening. It deals a major setback to the Jeff Bezos-backed…

Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin faced a setback. A hot-fire test of its New Glenn rocket ended with an explosion. Visuals showed the rocket erupting in a fireball. All…