Blue Origin rocket explodes in test, threatening NASA lunar plans

A New Glenn rocket from Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin company exploded during a test at Kennedy Space Center, destroying the launchpad and throwing NASA’s plans to build a lunar base and return humans to the moon into jeopardy.

A massive fireball engulfed the pad seconds after the scheduled “hotfire” test began at 9pm ET. An orange sky was visible in Fort Pierce, 185km (115 miles) to the south.

Blue Origin intends to use the rocket to launch landers to the moon for NASA, including those that will carry astronauts to the lunar surface.

Bezos said all company employees were accounted for and uninjured but called it a “very rough day.”

On Tuesday, NASA announced that Blue Origin had won the contract to launch the first of three planned missions this year to begin construction of its $20bn moon base.

The company is also competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide a lunar lander for the Artemis IV mission planned for 2028.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said a full evaluation of the timeline would follow the explosion, which Blue Origin described as “an anomaly.”

“Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult,” he wrote on X.

“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.”

Bezos said it was too early to know the root cause but added that the company would “rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying.”

Shockwaves were felt along Florida’s space coast, and residents in South Carolina reported seeing a glow in the sky. A livestream by NSF captured the fiery plume. Homes shook in nearby Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.

Emergency officials said there was no threat from fumes or other hazards. Flames were still burning at the launchpad more than two hours later.

Blue Origin has faced earlier setbacks. A payload from the third New Glenn flight ended up in the wrong orbit last month, and the rocket was grounded by the FAA before being cleared to return to flight last week.

Thursday’s test was the first static fire since that clearance. The FAA did not immediately comment on whether the explosion would trigger another investigation.

Blue Origin and SpaceX have built large facilities near Cape Canaveral to support crewed and cargo missions with NASA.

Artemis III, planned for 2027, is scheduled to test Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander and SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System to decide which will ferry the Artemis IV crew from the Orion capsule to the lunar surface.

Musk called the explosion “most unfortunate” and said, “Rockets are hard.”