# A test launch of a Blue Origin rocket ended in a massive explosion Thursday night.

*aerospace · news · 2026-05-29 · Baltimore News*

## Key points

- A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded during a hotfire test at Cape Canaveral on Thursday night.
- The explosion occurred days before a planned launch of Amazon's LEO internet satellites on New Glenn.
- This damaged pad is Blue Origin's only launch site for the 322-foot-tall New Glenn rocket.
- Blue Origin recently secured a NASA contract to deliver Artemis moon buggies using New Glenn.
- The incident may delay NASA lunar missions and Blue Origin's fall prototype lunar lander flight.

A test launch of a Blue Origin rocket ended in a massive explosion Thursday night in Florida, briefly turning the sky orange as flames shot into the air. The company owned by Jeff Bezos said on social media it "experienced an anomaly during today's hotfire test," adding that all personnel were accounted for. "It's too early to know the root cause, but we're already working to find it," Bezos said on X. "Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it." The explosion comes just days before the rocket was scheduled to launch a batch of internet satellites for Amazon's LEO, or low-Earth orbit, constellation. Officials with Cape Canaveral Space Force Station said they are evaluating available data to determine the cause of the anomaly and will release additional information when it becomes available. The damaged launchpad is Blue Origin's only facility for launching its 322-foot-tall New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth. The setback comes just months after New Glenn's third flight in April, when an engine failure left a satellite in the wrong orbit. Blue Origin plans to use the rocket for several NASA missions, including launching lunar landers designed to carry astronauts to the moon's surface. The company had been on track to launch a prototype lunar lander on a flight test this fall. Earlier this week, NASA awarded Blue Origin a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a pair of moon buggies in the coming years as part of the Artemis program. "Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on X. He said the agency would provide updates on any impacts to the Artemis program, including plans for a future moon base. Space Force officials said the explosion would not affect upcoming launches by other companies from nearby pads. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has experienced his own share of rocket explosions, also offered support.

**Companies:** Blue Origin, Amazon, NASA, SpaceX
**Countries:** United States

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