FLORIDA, United States – A rocket manufactured by Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin company exploded on its launch pad in Florida during a test on Thursday night, May 28, 2026, at approximately 21:00 local time (02:00 WAT).
Okay News reports that the explosion occurred during a hotfire test at Cape Canaveral, resulting in a massive ball of fire. Blue Origin confirmed in a social media statement that it had “experienced an anomaly” and that all personnel were accounted for and safe.
Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin and Amazon billionaire, stated on social media that while it was a “very rough day,” the company would “rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying.” He added that it was “too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it.”
The US Space Force indicated that emergency responders were on the scene, and officials are collaborating with Blue Origin to assess available data to determine the exact cause of the anomaly. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) acknowledged the incident, clarifying that the test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities and had no impact on air traffic.
This incident follows a previous grounding of a Blue Origin rocket last month after an FAA investigation into a “mishap” involving a failed satellite launch. During that event, the company attempted to place an AST SpaceMobile satellite using its New Glenn rocket but failed to achieve the intended orbit. Despite these setbacks, Blue Origin successfully launched a New Glenn rocket from Florida last November, marking the first time its reusable booster landed successfully.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman commented on the challenges of spaceflight, stating, “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. 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.”
