Blue Origin warns of rocket explosion debris after failed New Glenn test at Cape Canaveral
Jeff Bezos' rocket maker suffered a setback on Thursday as its New Glenn rocket went up in flames.
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Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night during a hot-fire test at a Space Force launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin is working on reusable rockets and launch services to rival those offered by Elon Musk's SpaceX. A hot-fire test is conducted on the ground with the rocket engines ignited, while the vehicle is secured to the launch pad.
Bezos said in a post on social network X that all "personnel are accounted for and safe."
"It's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it," Bezos wrote. "Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it."
The Brevard County Emergency Management office described the incident in a public notice as an "anomaly" that posed "no threat to the general public."
Blue Origin warned in a Friday post on X that debris from the explosion could wash ashore on some of the local beaches in the coming days or weeks.
Fire during an explosion of the uncrewed Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket during a test on a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., May 28, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a handout video.
NASASpaceflight.com | Reuters
"If you encounter any debris, do not touch or approach it for your safety," the company wrote.
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station advised that launch vehicle debris is potentially hazardous and "direct contact poses a risk to personal health and welfare," according to a statement posted to its website.
Musk also responded to the explosion on X, writing: "Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard."
The Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates commercial space activities, told CNBC in an emailed statement that the test was "not within the scope of FAA licensed activities," and there was "no impact to air traffic," as a result of the anomaly.
Blue Origin was slated to deploy 48 satellites for Amazon's nascent Leo internet-from-space service atop its New Glenn rocket in the coming weeks, according to a launch manifest. The mission, dubbed Leo New Glenn 1, is the first of 24 launches Amazon has booked with Blue Origin.
Amazon said its satellites were never integrated with the New Glenn rocket and remain secure at its nearby processing facility. The company confirmed all Amazon personnel are safe and accounted for following the incident.
Amazon said New Glenn represents 25% of its more than 100 launches secured for Leo, and that it has four other rockets on its manifest, allowing it to continue deploying satellites while New Glenn returns to flight.
Cape Canaveral officials said other areas of the facility are still ready to support launches. United Launch Alliance and Amazon had planned to deploy 29 satellites from a complex near the Blue Origin launch site Friday night.
A spokesperson for ULA said the company completed an initial assessment of its Atlas V rocket, which is carrying the Amazon payload, and determined the rocket and spacecraft are healthy following inspections of the facility power and purges.
Blue Origin is one of a handful of launch partners helping Amazon, which Bezos founded in 1994, build out its constellation of low Earth orbit satellites. Amazon is working to meet a Federal Communications Commission deadline that requires it to deploy about half of its constellation, or roughly 1,600 internet satellites, by July. It has more than 300 satellites in orbit.
In addition to ULA, Amazon has a mission scheduled with Arianespace in the coming weeks. It also anticipates ULA's Vulcan heavy-lift rocket, a challenger to New Glenn and SpaceX's Falcon 9, will be available soon, giving it more payload launch capacity.
Amazon said its Leo launch plans remain unchanged. The company opened up Leo beta access to enterprises in November, and Amazon is eyeing a commercial launch in the third quarter of this year.
The incident came a day after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised Blue Origin for playing a crucial role in the space agency's Artemis program, an effort to return American astronauts to the Moon's surface in 2028.
During a speech Wednesday, he also revealed that NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to help build a Moon Base.
After the New Glenn exploded on the launch pad Thursday, Isaacman wrote on X that the agency is "aware" of the incident and would "provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available."
"Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult," he said. "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."
