A rocket has exploded at NASA (Image: Supplied)
A rocket has exploded at the NASA space centre in the US.
According to reports, Blue Origin’s New Glenn exploded during a static fire test at Launch Complex 36 at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Blue Origin has now issued a statement in the wake of today’s explosion.
A spokesperson said, via a post on social media: “We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 29, 2026
The explosion took place shortly after 9pm local time on Thursday, May 28.
In footage circulating online, a detonation can be seen emanating from the base of the rocket, before smoke carries up the shaft of the rocket before an explosion towards the pointy tip of the spaceship. Then, the entire vessel is engulfed in a huge, bright yellow plume of flame.
NASA has not yet shared a statement online, nor on social media platform X, which is common protocol for immediate breaking incidents.
Howeber, House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology subcommittee chair Mike Haridopolos has issued the following statement via X: “ I’ve already spoken with @NASAAdmin Jared Isaacman regarding the explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket tonight at Kennedy Space Center. I am grateful there were no reported injuries and thankful for the first responders, engineers, and launch crews who acted quickly. Praying for Florida’s Space Coast and everyone involved.”
I’ve already spoken with @NASAAdmin Jared Isaacman regarding the explosion of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket tonight at Kennedy Space Center. I am grateful there were no reported injuries and thankful for the first responders, engineers, and launch crews who acted quickly.… https://t.co/m0IAerHZan
— Congressman Mike Haridopolos (@RepHaridopolos) May 29, 2026
Blue Origin, founded by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, is best known for its 11 minute space flight in 2025 that took a bunch of celebrities up into the inky black final fronteir; with pop star Katy Perry broadly mocked after she kissed the earth upon landing afters she traveled to the edge of space on April 14 last year aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket.
The historic flight was part of an all-female crew and reached over 60 miles above Earth, offering the passengers several minutes of weightlessness.
In perhaps less frivolous space news, the explosion at the Florida NASA base comes days after the US Space Agency revealed new incredible plans to set up a permanent base on the Moon.
The US space agency has outlined the first phase of its ambitious plans to build a sprawling Moon station that could extend over hundreds of square miles.
It is thought that the base could support astronauts for extended periods from the next decade as a new lunar race heats up. On Monday, China launched a rocket carrying three astronauts into space as Beijing works towards landing humans on the Moon by 2030. NASA has begun ordering landers, rovers and drones for its Moon base plans, awarding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four US companies.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will provide a pair of landers to deliver moon buggies to the lunar surface at a spot near the moon’s south pole.
The ‘lunar terrain vehicles’ will be built by Astrolab and Lunar Outpost, while Firefly Aerospace, which landed successfully on the moon last year, will deliver the first drones to the moon.It is hoped the equipment will arrive before the first Artemis astronauts land on Hope, planned for as early as 2028.