Blue Origin's New Glenn suffers catastrophic explosion during a test at launch pad in Florida

A New Glenn rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin blew up during a static-fire test at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) in Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at around 9 pm on May 28, 2026, shaking nearby homes and briefly painting the sky orange. Blue Origin said no one was hurt at the launch pad. “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it,” Bezos said via X. “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” New Glenn had to be grounded in April when it deployed a satellite in the wrong orbit because of engine failure. It was only the third flight of the rocket that Blue Origin intends to use to launch Blue Moon landers to the moon for NASA, including the landers that will take astronauts to the lunar surface. Just a few days before the blast incident, NASA had awarded Blue Origin a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a pair of moon buggies in the coming years as part of the Artemis program. The rocket was supposed to launch next week with internet satellites that are part of the Amazon Leo constellation in orbit. Video courtesy: @JConcilus