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Blue Origin’s New Glenn mega-rocket has just exploded during a test launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida, according to reports to be rivers from NASASpaceFlight.com and SpaceFlight Now. Blue Origin later confirmed the explosion.
Jeff Bezos’ space company was testing steady fire ahead of the fourth launch of a new rocket in the coming weeks, which is supposed to carry the Amazon Leo internet satellites into space. Blue Origin he said in the X post on Thursday evening that “(a) all workers have been accounted for.” The company did not say what went wrong, but “disruptions” did occur.
In a statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) told TechCrunch that it was aware of the explosion and said there were “no issues with the flight.” NASA and the Space Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The explosion means Blue Origin will have to suspend the New Glenn rocket program for an extended period of time as it malfunctions. Blue Origin plans to launch New Glenn for the 12th time this year, after the company spent nearly a decade building a test to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The company is also expected to support NASA’s Artemis missions to the moon, and the organization is showing what Blue Origin is expected to do. responsibility in that program earlier this week. Blue Origin has been seeking to restart national security operations at the Pentagon.
“Very sad. Robots are difficult,” Elon Musk he wrote on X in the near future after the explosion. “I hope you get well soon.”
The explosion comes just weeks after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket flew for the third time. The project failed on its own when New Glenn went up failed to put the AST SpaceMobile satellite into orbitresulting in the complete loss of the job. Last week, the FAA allowed New Glenn to fly again after Blue Origin completed an investigation into the failure.
A very new, slow rocket
Blue Origin has spent years developing New Glenn as it used its New Shepard program to test small rockets. While New Shepard has carried the rich and famous (along with other scientific missions) to the edge of space, Blue Origin has been working behind the scenes to develop a rocket capable of putting real commercial costs like large satellites into orbit.
The project took a long time – longer than Blue Origin expected – but it finally reached its peak in January 2025, when the company. flew New Glenn for the first time.
The New Glenn looked like a successful rocket right off the bat. It made it into orbit on that first mission, though the booster exploded before Blue Origin tried to land it on the ocean-going ship.
Blue Origin achieved great success with the second flight of New Glenn, however, in November 2025. In this project the company. launched two spacecraft to Mars of NASA. Blue Origin also received its first payload during the second New Glenn mission.
This allowed the company to refurbish the third phase of New Glenn, demonstrating not only the ability to restore the first phase, but also to restore it for reuse – an important step to reduce the overall cost of operating the launch business.
The used rocket booster had no problem flying again, and landed a second time on one of Blue Origin’s drone ships, during New Glenn. the third mission in April 2026. But the company experienced a cryogenic crisis at high altitude during the third mission, which resulted in the destruction of the satellite.
The upcoming fourth mission is expected to be the first of 24 that Amazon has partnered with Blue Origin. Amazon is currently developing a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, which it calls Leo. Wednesday, Amazon to be accepted His ability to rely on Blue Origin to build the network, calling the New Glenn “a flexible, high-lift rocket.”
Late Thursday, Congressman Mike Haridopolos (R-FL), who represents his home district of Cape Canaveral, he wrote on X that he spoke with NASA administrator Jared Isaacman about the explosion.
“I’m glad there were no injuries and I’m thankful for the first responders, engineers, and operators who responded quickly. Prayers for Florida’s Space Coast and all involved,” he said.
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