The explosion of the New Glenn rocket generated a massive fireball in Florida and could have long-term consequences for the company’s future ambitions.

Last Thursday night, during a ground ignition test at Cape Canaveral, the new Glenn rocket suffered a violent detonation that lit up the sky around the Florida launch site. Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, confirmed via his X account that all personnel had been accounted for and were safe.

“It’s still too early to determine the root cause of the incident, but we are already investigating to find it,” Bezos wrote. “It’s been a very tough day, but we will rebuild whatever needs to be rebuilt and we will fly again. It’s worth it.”

What is a hotfire test?

The test in which Blue Origin’s rocket exploded — a vehicle standing 98 meters tall, considered one of the largest ever built — is known as a hotfire test or static fire test. It is a standard procedure in which a rocket’s engines, spacecraft, or prototype are ignited for a very brief moment while the vehicle remains firmly secured to the launch pad. The purpose is to verify that all systems are functioning correctly before an actual launch.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket

This was to be the fourth mission of the New Glenn rocket, which was scheduled to carry 48 satellites next week as part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet network. “NASA is aware of the anomaly that occurred tonight at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station involving Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman in a post on X. “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing a new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation, assess near-term mission impacts, and return to flight.”

Isaacman added that NASA would provide updates on any potential impacts to the Artemis missions and the Moon Base when available. The agency has contracted with both Blue Origin and SpaceX for various aspects of its plans to return to the Moon.

This explosion represents the latest setback for Bezos’s company. On April 19, a failure occurred during the rocket’s third flight, prompting an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). During that mission, the rocket’s first stage successfully landed on a floating platform, but the upper stage — or second stage — failed to place its payload, the AST SpaceMobile BlueBird 7 satellite, into a safe orbit. That investigation concluded on May 22.