Jeff Bezos says today is a ‘very difficult day’ but Blue Origin will ‘rebuild everything that needs to be rebuilt and get back to flying’
A Blue Origin rocket explodes on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The 320-foot New Glenn rocket was undergoing a “hot-fire test” of its engine on Thursday, May 28, ahead of its scheduled launch of 48 Amazon Leo broadband satellites into low Earth orbit. A target release date has not been announced.
“An anomaly occurred during today’s hot fire test,” Blue Origin said in a post on X. “All personnel have been identified. We will provide an update as soon as we have more details.”
A spokesperson for Jeff Bezos’ company, Blue Origin, referred the post to USA TODAY after a reporter asked for more information about what happened.
“It’s too early to know the root cause, but we’re already working to find out,” Bezos said in a post on X.
“It’s a very difficult day, but we intend to rebuild everything that needs to be rebuilt and get back to flying,” he wrote. “It’s worth it.”
Video of the moment the New Glenn rocket exploded went viral on social media. A sudden and powerful explosion is shown followed by the rocket being quickly engulfed in massive flames. Video of the aftermath showed an apocalyptic scene, with a yellow haze in the sky surrounded by thick clouds.
What does NASA say about the explosion?
“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capabilities is extremely difficult,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a post on X.
“We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess the short-term mission impact, and return to launching the rocket,” he said. “We will provide information regarding the impact on Artemis and the moon base program as it becomes available.”
Blue Origin and billionaire Elon Musk’s rival SpaceX are both racing to have separate lunar landers ready in time for NASA’s Artemis III mission in 2027. The mission itself will be an important test of each lander’s docking capabilities in Earth orbit before NASA puts boots back on the moon’s surface with next year’s Artemis IV mission.
Whichever lander is ultimately selected for Artemis IV, it will join NASA astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft in lunar orbit and carry them to the moon’s surface. After the astronauts walk on the moon and perform a series of scientific experiments, the lander will transport them to the constellation Orion and return to Earth, NASA said.
Musk, who has also dealt with his own spaceship explosion, sympathized with Blue Origin’s setback.
“It’s the most disappointing thing,” Musk said in a video of the New Glenn explosion posted on Company X. “Rockets are difficult.”
Learn more about the exploding rocket “Blue Origin”
The rocket that exploded was Blue Origin’s fourth New Glenn rocket, which was supposed to be the vehicle to carry Blue Origin’s lunar module into orbit. The company has so far launched three New Glenn rockets from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The New Glenn rocket took off on April 19 on a mission to deploy cellular broadband service provider AST SpaceMobile’s broadband network satellite into space. Although the rocket sent the satellite into the wrong orbit, Blue Origin was able to recover the first stage booster, which had been reused after the previous major spaceflight.
Blue Origin has not announced a target date for New Glenn’s next launch, but the rocket was scheduled to launch as early as June 4, according to Federal Aviation Administration operational planning recommendations.
Bezos, known as the founder of Amazon, founded the private space technology company Blue Origin in 2000.
Blue Origin, headquartered in Washington state, made its name with suborbital human spaceflights using the New Shepard spacecraft in West Texas. These missions, some of which have involved celebrities such as musician Katy Perry and actor William Shatner, have been on hiatus for at least two years while Blue Origin focuses on its moon mission.
