Stunning video of a Blue Origin rocket exploding during a test launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A New Glenn rocket exploded at Cape Canaveral during a launch pad test firing on Thursday, May 28, 2026. The U.S. Space Force said there were no injuries at the Florida space port following the incident.
The rocket was being prepared for a launch carrying a batch of satellites for Amazon’s Leo internet constellation. The satellites were not on rocket for the launch pad static fire. The explosion at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station caused extensive damage to the launch pad facility, toppling one of the 600-feet high lightning towers. WATCH:
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All personnel are accounted for and safe. It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 29, 2026
Bezos couldn’t get it up!
Ooooops!
“Houston, we have problem!”
Reminds me of some of my amazon purchases.
Hey, where does he get his parts from?
Ajax I believe is the go to company for high quality parts, just ask W.E. Coyote.
Acme.
ACME
acne
Acme
Personal question: Does your last name have ten letters and originate in Cornwall? If so, we’re related…
road runner salvage parts.
Bezos suffering from projectile dysfunction tonight 🙂
Premature…
WORDMAN™ , I’m afraid Harrison wins that one
Bezos’ competition with Musk is nothing more than genius envy.
Oh, I don’t think so….Musk won the progeny contest also.
Not as good as the recent Guinness Book of World Records 1,000+ drone light show in China, but still, special night-light views for local Florida residents.
Lessons-Learned: Call Elon… he does rockets in his spare time… 🙂
and blows them up also.🚀
Out of Texas… Floridians don’t get the light show! 🙂
Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy fly out of Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB. Starship flies from Starbase, Texas.
Of course. Ask the Navy about Vanguard. But that’s one of the ways you learn. Preferably, though, not this late in the process.
In grade school, way back when, my teacher would go get a Television and projector, drag them into our room, and we’d watch the precursor of NASA blow them up with the occasional success.
In a year, I was launching my first Estes Rocket in the school yard with my Dad. Got to meet Vern Estes at LDRS XVI in Hartsel, Colorado years later.
It goes with the territory. NASA blew up a lot of rockets on the pad and en route around the earth back in the day. I was there, I saw the light shows! Shuttle did static test of boosters against a mountain in Utah, NOT on the pad. I saw some of those videos. A lot of fried rabbit.
That methane gas explosion was a “fart” for the ages.
That won’t buff out.
Earl Scheib Paint Shop…
In by 9 out by 5
Edink, you just brought back a classic running joke among us motorheads. OMG! Every crappy car paint job got the Earl Scheib Award! Can’t stop laughin’…….
There was one at the end of our block in Brooklyn. Paint smell permeated the neighborhood.
Local news cut into programming after the explosion happened. A person fishing filmed a good video of the explosion and mushroom cloud that followed. Blue Origin provides good paying jobs on the Space Coast, and I want them to succeed. My cynical mind wonders about sabotage, but most likely an engineering failure.
Most likely.
nasa suffered the same learning curve. relax and enjoy the show.
They can’t blame this fiasco on the climate, it was 88 degrees, a warm May. It wasn’t an o-ring but pretty close. Something was leaking cryogenic fluid. They came up with 9 new things to prevent it.
The satellites are safely attached to their high altitude balloons. No worries.
Further insight into the crash will be provided once female astronauts Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez have arrived on scene. Until then, speculation as to cause is premature.
Excuse me Mr Bezos, here is the invoice for the damage to the Space Center. Will that be cash or Bitcoin?
That’s an excellent point. The American taxpayer paid for that launch pad he destroyed.
Took a tour of Cape Canaveral years ago, when it was more open to the public. The scale of the pads, the silos, the rockets, the transport vehicles, is truly jaw dropping.
Space exploration is just the best. Hate to see this happen.
I’d rather money spent here on earth. I have never understood the whole space thing and the billions spent when we have homeless and earthly problems that need addressed.
look up ‘benefits derived from space programs’.
The scientific benefits of the Space Program more or less ended in the seventies. Only proponents of wasting tax dollars on said programs either don’t know that, or obfuscate the information.
The redesign of astronaut space suits for SpaceX would indicate otherwise. Discovery and understanding of the world around us only increases the longer I live and I do not think it will stop when my grandchildren pass. My grandmother had the first model T in Philly back in the day. Cars have changed a lot since then. My mom and uncle worked on the atomic bomb back in the day. Then, mom worked on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. I worked on pay-per-view, joint-stars and then, the shuttle. My son’s working on AI precursors. Space X is not using calculators to build its rockets, it’s using CAD systems and newer tools and faster/bigger computers. Your TV no longer uses cathode ray tubes and neither does your computer screen. Electronics is no longer discussed in terms of transistors, it’s all about the semiconductor chips. Originally, a chip represented a single schematic layout or blueprint. Now, they represent many schematics finely layered in the medium at a scale requiring x-rays (not eyeballs) to trouble-shoot. If we still used cathode ray tubes and transistors in TVs, your 65 inch screen would be over a foot deep and require 3 people to carry.
I remember this to this day “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.” Americans explore, we always have. We have an desire to seek out new worlds, new civilizations, to go where no one has gone before. I for one would go IF I could go on the Enterprise. Seems a bit more spacious, unlike the Mercury capsules of yesteryear.
Mercury capsules were tiny, designed for an 80% height man back then, not comfortable for a 6 footer.
Because sometimes, SOMETIMES, it’s worthwhile to allocate resources to the high end of the IQ spectrum. To test the limits of human imagination, and understanding. To soar.
We shovel trillions of tax dollars toward “alleviating” poverty, and homelessness. With dismal results.
I sometimes wish we would consider having a balanced budget.
During the Apollo era, American women spent more money on cosmetics
And I’m not knocking cosmetics.
The best cure for Earthly problems is get everybody working. Make cosmetics or satellites or whatever. The best cure for poverty is a good JOB!
Basic research brought to you by NASA has revolutionized some industries and created many of the products you use and buy daily. VELCRO is one of many.
I agree, we toured it as well, truly breathtaking. I was especially awed by the Mercury Capsules. Those were really tuna cans on a missile Brave men road in those.
All flight test pilots. Men, who when their craft malfunctioned, often fixed them mid-air. Truly, fearless.
Except Bezos isn’t exploring. He’s just trying to put more of his satellites up. It’s a commercial venture.
Bezos started with a bookstore. Had software created to sell his books that he later used to sell other products. His software was so innovative in selling products on-line that Walmart and Home Depot were forced to follow suit. To believe that Bezos is not funding innovation in his commercial space vehicles is to believe that Ford did not pursue innovation in his automobile factories.
The bigger issue for the local economy is this does not just impact Bezos. Launches on the pads are scheduled a year out. NASA in Florida only has 2 pads, now, there is only one for the next 6 months or so. All the scheduled launches will be juggled for both NASA and the Space Force. Most rockets can’t switch pads, but a few can. Meanwhile, all the local manufacturers working on launches destined for that pad will experience delays and/or cancelations. Then, there may be layoffs. It depends on exactly how long restoration will take. It’s much, much cheaper to get back to business when the blows occur after launch with no people on board.
Payable in twelve monthly installments of 100 million dollars each.
Was the EPA called to assess fines for injecting massive amounts of carbon and super-toxic organic and inorganic chemicals, heavy metals and toxins into the atmosphere, water and soil in costal area, and during the turtle non-lite season?
I’m sure Al Gore is on it.
Well, the eggs the turtles already buried are probably okay. This stuff will mostly dissipate by the time they hatch.
The eggs that were laid in the last 24 hours will probably not hatch. I’ll let you know how my tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and cucumbers taste. I use containers but the sweet potatoes sewed themselves into the soil. They only have 30% shade cloth over them. I am close enough that my vegetables were impacted depending on the wind direction. It rained, so, most of it is on the ground now or washed out to sea. Some escaped into the upper atmosphere.
Insure by Lloyds of London. Oh . . . wait!
A remake of C&C’s “Up in Smoke”…
Blue origin will not beat SpaceX, but it is still good to have a competitors.
Also, I really love that SpaceX and Blue Origin have been very public about their failures. It is exiting to watch them make progress.
The most valuable part of experience consists of failed attempts.
Although not as dramatic, just ask Thomas Edison
Both Blur Origin and SpaceX were in consideration of a future ridiculous Artemis experiment in DEI.
NASA, like Boeing, is no longer an engineering entity; skin color, sex, and all of DEI are more important.
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are doing more for space exploration and industry than NASA. I wish both great success beyond what they have already achieved.
They’re not exploring anything! 🙄
I suspect sabotage.
Musks rocket also exploded earlier this week
American needs a US backup suppler and/ or competitor. Wish BO, Boeing and ULA were a little bit better at it.
Boeing, et al ripped us off for decades with molasses speed projects and constant cost overruns. That rather dampened my enthusiasm for them.
The only explosion of a Musk rocket a week ago today, was when Starship v3 was deliberately set down in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX had an explosion of Starhip v2, number 11 on the pad when conducting pressure vessel testing a year of so ago.
Version 3, known as Block 3, is recognizable, but has an enormous number of improvements and system changes. The launch was generally a success with two anomalies. The booster lost one of the v3 Proton engines in boost phase, and did not light any for its reentry burn until one/two lit at the end. Starship itself also lost a “vacuum engine” (there is no vacuum in space) in its boost to its projected altitude. It was able to accomodate the loss of the engine and attained orbit insertion.
On Starship’s splashdown, it successfully stopped it’s decent at ocean level, and then tipped over like a previous return, and only then exploded. That was a known event, not an accident.
I don’t. It’s possible but highly unlikely. Space is now and always has been risky business. Bezos and Musk are pushing the envelope on rocketry for size and heavy lift.
Consider that all their employees in these endeavors are heavily vetted and highly educated. Each step in the process of rocket building depends on the prior stages being executed accurately and tested. There is not a lot of room for error or there are explosions. Explosions risk everyone’s life whether intentional or inadvertent.
It’s not my Earth-Shattering Kaboom. I’m not Marvin the Martian. And besides, you lit the fuse.
it were that upperstage that fell from the sky and hit the blue orangin.😳
Now that is Climate Change.
Humty dumty rocket fireworks.
They don’t make them like they used to. Maybe he should stick to tying up traffic with his crappy EV vans that are like relentless pests these days.
Bexos Blue Flame is officially the parody rocket name.
Launch motto:
“One small spark for man, one giant fireball for accounting.”
There has only been one completely successful New Glenn launch. Two have successfully made it to orbit. The third failed to reach the proper orbit. Blue Origin is years behind schedule and a dry unreliable launch vehicle. This isn’t a development test flight. This was supposed to be an operational mission. The reliability of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket system is unparalleled ! The complexity SpaceX has mastered is astounding ! I’m certain that SpaceX will reach the same level with new Starship system. This past launch was an almost completely new Starship system. New engines and new designs used throughout the craft. It was nearly a completely successful launch ! It deployed dummy Starlink satellites and two functional satellites ! When the new Starship system is perfected the cost of a putting a pound into space will drop drastically. Blue Origin is a clown show that’s going to get people killed.
SpaceX has been a resounding success and pushed new frontiers. Yes, this was supposed to be an operational mission for Blue Origin. All space programs have gotten people killed, both on the ground and up in space, even the Russians. One of SpaceX’s early launches, they had people way too close to the launch pad (not at NASA). They were lucky there were no injuries. SpaceX and Blue Origin were both seeded billions by NASA. They have had slightly different missions from the beginning. SpaceX has operated independently of NASA except with respect to sharing launch facilities and coordinating schedules. Blue Origin is not as independent. It is not a clown show. Building a gigantic structure with gigantic cranes, filling it with pressurized gases and liquids is an enormously difficult and unforgiving task. Danger is built into almost every aspect of the assembly. They are years behind schedule.
Meanwhile, Canada’s Space Program is racing ahead. The concrete pad at the Nova Scotia Spaceport is nearly complete, and they are considering paving the road to it.
https://financialpost.com/technology/canada-first-commercial-spaceport-nova-scotia
I see they already have the little sticks in place to hold the rocket. Good for them.
Not to detract, but here is the deeper story. Funny the ways Ukraine keeps coming up. They actually did have a launch, once. Maybe a tad smaller than my biggest Estes rocket.
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/commentary/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-spaceport-in-nova-scotia/
“The 2025 budget earmarked $183 million over the next three years for establishing sovereign space launch capabilities.”
Here is a picture of the road, taken from the nursing home parking lot:
Target designator.
Will there bee enough wind chargers to provide electricity?
Thank you. This is very revealing.
Like newsums train.
must have been those Pesky Rooskies (TM)
”Et ceterum censeo Rooskiam esse delendam ! ” (/s)…
How do you replace the big blue “G” gravatar with your own?
“……………….. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying.”
That’s what you call flying?
I’ll pass.
Then shazam… it just disappeared.
Great cat photo!
“Oh no” 🤣🤣🤣
How bad was that for the poor man’s atmosphere?
I wonder if that was the big BOOM heard/felt throughout the state of SC yesterday ? Social media was blowing up (no pun intended) about it yesterday.
Unfortunately, these things happen when embarking on such a complex and expensive task. My hat is off to Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk for their entrepreneurial spirit in attempting such feats. That is the spirit that makes America greater than any other country in the history of the world. They will get the bugs worked out and before long it will be, “Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of…….”.
Marvin the Martian finally got his “Earth shattering KA-BOOM”! Seriously, who is going to want to pilot this thing now? I’ve got several Leftist in mind I’d love to see volunteer.
“Rockets are hard.”
-Elon Musk
I predict the price for Amazon Prime is about to go up again.
Mrs. Bezos may have to postpone her next plastic surgey.
Scott Manley gives a good analysis of the explosion and it’s consequences.
At 11:15 he talks about Orlando being able to see the fireball. Our family condo is on a barrier island 100 miles south. This explosion would be visible here. We easily see the launches and I have once see in real time the explosion of a rocket carrying cargo to the space station. Many of us were watching on the jetty of that event, which I think was 7 or more years ago?? The explosion looked exactly like the Challenger explosion. One person was also watching/listening on their cell phone when they acknowledged it exploded.
Because this was a night launch, I and many weren’t watching, but for any in the high rise condo buildings, sitting in their oceanfront living rooms, this would have been up front and personal viwership seen farther down coast on the barrier islands than our 100 miles.
Thank God it wasn’t a repeat Gus Grissom event.
First hand experience of DEI hiring.
There went my Amazon delivery.
Kaboom!!!
Oops!
Bang zoom to the moon.
No problem. That’ll buff right out.
And, just like that, the rocket was gone.
well, there goes canaveral for a few years,,,,also puts the kibosh on elon
The place does not shut down every time a launch pad is being worked on. But, it does impact every launch scheduled for that pad this year and all the workers involved in those launches. Some vehicles will be able to be launched from other pads, but some are down until the pad is rebuilt.
Hard to believe no one was injured seeing that massive ball of fire. Pray that is the truth and no one is lying to cover their incompetence.
Great lesson in the difference between the speed of light and the speed of sound at the end of the video!
People in vicinity of vehicle during launch are surrounded by a foot or more of concrete. Most people are quite a distance away. This was a test, many fewer people involved than if it had had satellites on board.
Jeff is no Elon Musk, that’s for sure.
Static Engine Fire Test, the objects flying away from the fireball were not intentionally launched.
Bezos posted: “Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.” Coincidentally, Amazon Prime just raised rates $10/month!
Jeff, stick to Terra firma.
Don’t quit your day job.
All of Jeff Bezo’s operations (data systems, servers, etc.,) are now captured and run by USSF.