Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a test at a launch pad in Florida on the evening of May 28 local time during an engine test ahead of a scheduled launch of Amazon Leo satellites.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a test at a launch pad in Florida on the evening of May 28 local time during an engine test ahead of a scheduled launch of Amazon Leo satellites.
This is reported by the Associated Press.
The company said the explosion occurred during ground tests of the rocket at Cape Canaveral. According to the US Space Force, no one was injured.
@blueorigin New Glenn exploded during a static fire test at Launch Complex 36. @NASAAdmin pic.twitter.com/goHzMVrqNT
— liten drage (@DrageLiten) May 29, 2026
After the explosion, residents of nearby Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach reported a loud rumble and vibrations in their homes. Photos of a large orange fireball over the spaceport quickly appeared on social media.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said the company is still determining the cause of the accident.
«It’s too early to say what the root cause is, but we’re already working to determine it. It’s been a very tough day, but we’ll get everything back up and running. It’s worth it,» he wrote.
New Glenn was supposed to launch the Amazon Leo satellites into orbit next week, a satellite internet project being developed by Amazon.
Despite the accident, the US Space Force said the explosion would not affect other launches from the spaceport. United Launch Alliance plans to launch an Atlas V rocket with the same batch of Amazon Leo satellites in the coming days.
Blue Origin has been busy preparing for new space missions in recent months. The company also planned a test flight of a lunar lander and this week received a NASA contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars as part of the Artemis program.
Elon Musk has already responded to the incident. The SpaceX founder wrote on X: «I’m sorry to see this, hope you recover quickly.»
