With SpaceX putting more points on the board with every passing week, and NASA making their move back to space, pressure is on for Blue Origin to not be left behind.
You’re only as good as your last accomplishment in the technology world, so Blue Origin has been moving ahead with projects of their own. Thursday night at Cape Canaveral wasn’t supposed to be anything very exciting. Just a test-firing of rockets getting ready for the next launch, set to take 4 dozen satellites into space for an orbital internet to rival Starling. Low Earth Orbit shortens to LEO, which is the principle behind Amazon’s LEO Internet system.
The firing test of the Glenn rocket did NOT go according to plan.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station also confirmed in a separate statement that “all personnel have been accounted for and there were no injuries/fatalities.”
Blue Origin was scheduled to fuel the rocket Thursday evening ahead of a planned test firing of the rocket’s engines. — CBS
Elon was gracious in his response to the news.
Social media was immediately sharing images of the explosion.
Here’s one view, from a distance.
Blue Origin's New Glenn just blew up at LC-36 while attempting to Static Fire ahead of NG-4.https://t.co/tANS0dWyIH pic.twitter.com/PztxFoBqIw
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) May 29, 2026
Here is a closer look from another camera.
Here's our video of the explosion at Launch Complex 36. It happened about 9 pm ET (0100 UTC) as Blue Origin was beginning a static fire test of its New Glenn rocket.
Watch live views: https://t.co/tm2wZQmAVD pic.twitter.com/PmbgQC6Qmq
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) May 29, 2026
