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An uncrewed Blue Origin New Glenn rocket experienced a blowup on the launchpad during a test on Thursday, marking a significant setback for Jeff Bezos’s space company as it tries to narrow the lead with Elon Musk’s upcoming IPO-bound SpaceX.
Footage posted by NASASpaceflight, a YouTube channel that streams launches from Florida, captured the New Glenn firing up on the pad around 9:00 PM Eastern Time (1:00 AM GMT on Friday), before erupting into a colossal fireball that sent a rising column of flames and smoke skyward.
Blue Origin stated it encountered an “anomaly,” a term often used in the spaceflight industry to describe a failure or explosion during a launch or test.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel are accounted for. We will issue updates as more details become available,” the company announced on X. A hotfire test involves igniting a rocket engine while the vehicle remains stationary on the ground.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed the agency was aware of the incident. “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capabilities is immensely challenging. We will collaborate with our partners to thoroughly investigate this anomaly, evaluate any short-term mission impacts, and resume launches,” he shared on X.
Isaacman also mentioned that NASA would share information regarding potential effects on the Artemis and Moon Base initiatives.
Earlier this week, NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to deliver lunar rovers using its uncrewed cargo lunar lander, Mark 1, as part of the broader Artemis lunar exploration program.
Bezos, in a separate post on X, mentioned that it’s still too early to determine the cause. “Today was tough, but we will rebuild and get back to flying. It’s worth it,” he stated.
In the latest rivalry between the billionaire-led space companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin are competing to support the return of humans to the Moon ahead of a planned crewed mission by China around 2030, developing lunar landers that NASA plans to utilize.
Despite unveiling plans for an IPO earlier this month—anticipating it could be the first U.S. company valued at over a trillion dollars—SpaceX has also faced setbacks. In June of last year, its colossal Starship spacecraft blew up in a fiery explosion during testing in Texas, as it prepared for a test flight.
Recently, SpaceX succeeded somewhat in its 12th test flight of a Starship prototype, which deployed several mock satellites and safely splash-landed in the Indian Ocean. However, the company did not manage a controlled landing of the Super Heavy booster, which tumbled into the Gulf of Mexico.
Musk responded to footage of the Blue Origin explosion via X, remarking: “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.”
Blue Origin had announced on Wednesday its plans to launch 48 Amazon Leo satellites into low Earth orbit, part of an effort to build a broadband constellation to compete with Musk’s Starlink network. The company did not specify a launch date.
Developing New Glenn, a 29-story tall rocket with a reusable first stage designed to rival SpaceX’s Falcon rockets and its more powerful Starship, has cost Blue Origin billions of dollars over nearly a decade.
The Federal Aviation Administration stated it’s aware of the incident but clarified that it’s outside their jurisdiction and that it did not impact regional air traffic.
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