Satellite images show damage after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explodes at Florida launchpad
Planet satellite imagery shows charred areas and apparent structural damage at Launch Complex 36 after Blue Origin’s 320-foot New Glenn rocket erupted in flames during a hot fire test.
A hot fire test ended in a fiery explosion for a Blue Origin rocket in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 28.
Blue Origin employees continued working to determine how much damage was done to the company’s $1 billion launch facility in Florida after its New Glenn rocket exploded during testing last week.
The 320-foot rocket was on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launchpad around 9 p.m. EDT on May 28 as teams prepared to fire its BE-4 engines during a hot fire test ahead of the rocket’s fourth spaceflight. Video from NASASpaceflight.com cameras showed the engines briefly igniting before the rocket was engulfed in flames within seconds.
The explosion left Launch Complex 36, or LC-36, charred, as satellite imagery from Planet shows. Some damage to structures at the pad was also apparent in the images. The rocket was destroyed during the fire.
On left, Planet satellite imagery shows Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, before Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded during a hot fire test on May 29, 2026. On right, charred areas around LC-36 after the explosion. Credit: Planet Labs PBC
The explosive failure came ahead of New Glenn’s fourth flight, known as NG-4, which was set to launch a batch of Amazon Leo satellites into orbit. The payload was not onboard at the time of the mishap.
Other New Glenn rocket hardware for future missions was stored at the the launch complex at the time of the explosion.
"We have regained some access to Launch Complex 36 and are actively investigating the hotfire anomaly," Blue Origin CEO David Limp wrote on X. "We will start clearing the pad soon and have a good rebuild plan in place. The booster and GS2s in the integration facility appear healthy from quick looks."
On left, Planet satellite imagery shows Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, before Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded during a hot fire test on May 29, 2026. On right, charred areas around LC-36 after the explosion. Credit: Planet Labs PBC
Despite the massive fireball seen from miles away, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said no one was injured and everyone working at the site was accounted for.
Over the weekend, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman toured the launch site with Bezos and offered words of support to employees.
“There is a lot of work to do, but this is exactly why people choose careers in aerospace, whether at NASA, Blue Origin, or across the industry. The talent in this field thrives under pressure and performs at its best when solving the toughest problems” Isaacman said in a statement on X.
Blue Origin is a major contractor in NASA’s Artemis program, with plans to help return humans to the moon in the next few years. NASA announced another round of contracts, including one for Blue Origin, a few days before the mishap.
Isaacman said NASA will take an active role in helping Blue Origin, as well as other Artemis partners, overcome “setbacks, remove obstacles, and deliver the intended outcomes.”
Blue Origin has invested more than $1 billion in rebuilding the launch site, which was completed in 2021 and returned to use for the first time since the 1960s.
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