Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

The new first stage for an upcoming Blue Origin New Glenn mission exploded on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral on Thursday night.

“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more,” Blue Origin posted on X.

Video captured by Spaceflightnow.com and posted to X showed the rocket stage standing vertical on the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36 become engulfed in flames. The fireball expands out and covers the entire launch pad as the fuselage of the rocket can be seen crumbling into the flames.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos added, “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explodes during an engine-firing test on Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (@JConcilus via AP)
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explodes during an engine-firing test on Thursday, May 28, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (@JConcilus via AP)

SpaceX founder Elon Musk, a Blue Origin competitor, weighed in as well.

“Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly,” he posted on X.

The explosion occurred around 9 p.m.

“Emergency responders are on the scene. All personnel have been accounted for and there were no injuries/fatalities,” according to a press release from the Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45, which oversees the launch pad and all launches as part of the Eastern Range, the area that extends east from Florida’s launch sites over the Atlantic.

“Range officials, in coordination with Blue Origin and appropriate partners, are currently evaluating available data to determine the exact cause of the anomaly,” the release stated. “Additional information will be released as it becomes available.”

Despite Blue Origin explosion, SpaceX knocks out launch, ULA still to go today

Other launch providers should not be affected. There were two launches planned for Friday farther north at the Space Force station. A SpaceX Falcon 9 and United Launch Alliance Atlas V were primed for missions from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complexes 40 and 41. SpaceX’s Starlink 10-53 mission went up on time at 8:57 a.m. and ULA’s Amazon Leo 7 mission was slated to launch Friday night during a window from 7:33-8:02 p.m.

“Our first priority is always the safety of our personnel and the surrounding community,” said SLD 45 commander Col. Brian Chatman after SpaceX’s morning launch less than 12 hours after the Blue Origin explosion. “I am incredibly proud of the rapid response demonstrated by our emergency management, fire, security forces and mission partners.”

He credited training and exercises to be prepared for such an event. Ahead of any operation at the base including the static fire test, hours of prep work takes place to ensure hazard areas are established and risk to personnel on base is minimal. he said.

“While we never want to respond to a real-world incident, we always prepare for the unexpected, demonstrating the expertise, discipline and readiness that make the Eastern Range the world’s premier gateway to space,” he said.

Cecil O’Bryan, who was directing the Emergency Operations Center after Thursday’s explosion, said the unit was prepared for a worst-case scenario.

“Representatives from several units ranging from fire to explosive ordnance disposal to civil engineering can respond within minutes,” he said. “This helps clear the range to support 24/7 operations, even after an anomaly.”

Aftermath from the explosion, though, could be hazardous to civilian areas, such as debris that could wash ashore in such as the beaches in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach in the coming days and weeks, the Space Force warned.

Blue Origin announced that if anyone encountered washed-up debris, they should call 321-222-4355 or email [email protected]. Brevard County Emergency Management also asked people use those numbers and not call 911.

The hotfire, also known as a static fire, is supposed to test out the rocket stage, usually with a full load of fuel and locked down to the launch tower so it remains in place as teams make sure everything runs smooth for launch day. This lower part of the rocket has a combination of liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas.

A lightning arrester and a charred water tower are seen at pad 36 in the aftermath of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explosion at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (/John Raoux/AP)
A lightning arrester and a charred water tower are seen at pad 36 in the aftermath of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explosion at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Friday, May 29, 2026, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (/John Raoux/AP)

The lost hardware was the third-ever New Glenn first stage manufactured at Blue Origin’s rocket factory in nearby Merritt Island. It had been tapped for what would have been Blue Origin’s next flight, NG-4, that was slated to fly as early as next week.

That was going to be the first of 24 missions to fly up satellites as part of the Amazon Leo broadband constellation.

With the explosion, New Glenn won’t be flying anytime soon, though, as repairs will be needed at the launch pad. At least one of the lightning towers adjacent the pad was visibly missing after the explosion, as is the transporter-erector tower, which was holding up the rocket stage. This is the only launch complex available for Bezos’ big rocket.

Aerial images posted by NASASpaceflight.com on Friday shows the extent of the destruction with debris pancaked on the pad and structures adjacent the pad showing damage.

More Top Picks Best Amazon Prime Day Phone Case Deals 2026

“This is disastrous for Blue Origin,” said Main Engine Cut Off podcaster Anthony Colangelo on Friday. “They have to go and figure out what they need to rebuild, which is going to be most all of the pad.”

The scale of the infrastructure is among the largest of launch providers, which could feed into a timeline challenge.

“Is this a year of rebuild. Is it 18 months? I kind of would be shocked if New Glenn flies in 2027,” he said. “I’d be thrilled if it does, maybe late 2027 if they really get in gear.”

SpaceX suffered a loss of a rocket in 2016 at Canaveral’s SLC-40 when a Falcon 9 exploded on the pad ahead of the AMOS-6 mission. Damage from that incident caused more than a 15-month delay before SpaceX was able to launch from the pad again.

“This hurts. I’ll never forget the feeling of losing Amos-6 on the pad and my heart goes out to the Blue Origin teams,” said SpaceX’s Kate Tice, who has been a prime commentator during Starship missions. “It’s a sad day, but hang in there. You’ll root cause and get back to the skies even stronger, soon.”

Since it was a static fire test, the Federal Aviation Administration would not be grounding the rocket as it had after its problems on the NG-3 mission in April.

The base of New Glenn’s stage is outfitted with seven of the company’s BE-4 engines, which would also have been destroyed. BE-4 engines are also used on ULA’s Vulcan rockets.

The company does still have one flight-proven first stage available, though, which flew both New Glenn’s second and third missions and made recovery landings downrange in the Atlantic after launch.

The company’s first New Glenn first stage was lost during its first-ever launch in January 2025 as it was not able to make the recovery landing.

The heavy-lift rocket was just cleared to fly by the Federal Aviation Administration last week after a different issue on its third flight, NG-3, in which the upper stage was not able to put its payload into the correct orbit after one of its two engines malfunctioned.

Blue Origin CEO Jeff Limp had indicated earlier this year his goal was to fly at least eight New Glenn missions this year.

NASA had been counting on New Glenn to help with its moonbound efforts. Targeting a launch this fall is supposed to be the debut launch of Blue Origin’s uncrewed Blue Moon MK1 lander to the moon’s South Pole.

That mission will help Blue Origin develop its crewed Blue Moon MK2 lander that’s tied to NASA’s Artemis missions and would also launch on New Glenn.

A version of the Blue Moon MK2 is aiming to fly alongside NASA’s Artemis III mission with a goal of proving it can dock with NASA’s Orion spacecraft during a low-Earth orbit flight planned for mid 2027. This pad explosion will continue to stress that timeline.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman posted on X that NASA was aware of the incident.

“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” he wrote. “We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets. 
We will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available.”