Blue Origin New Glenn EXPLODES During Pre-Launch Testing | Analysis

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]Blue Origin have just suffered a major anomaly at their launch pad in Florida.

[00:00:04]New Glenn's booster and upper stage have exploded during a static fire test attempt and one of the two towers has been toppled over as well.

[00:00:14]It was a relatively calm Fidian evening up to that point as over at launch complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Blue Origin were attempting the final pre-launch test of their massive new Glenn rocket. Standing at 98 m tall, the same height as the SLS rocket which sent four humans around the moon a couple of months ago. This rocket is big and big rockets make big explosions.

[00:00:38]Earlier in the evening, Nuclean had attempted a static fire. We saw the deli system used to suppress the sound from its 7B4 engines spooling up, but then nothing happened, indicating that the first attempt had aborted for whatever reason. After some waiting exactly on the hour at 9:00, we saw the deli system spooling up again before ignition. And this is where things are visually very wrong. The flash from the base of the vehicle was way brighter than we are used to when watching new Glenn ignite.

[00:01:04]Something was clearly malfunctioning at the base of the vehicle. Whether that be a dodgy engine taking out other engines or something else. But until Blue Origin specifies what went wrong, we have no way of knowing. The glow at the base of the vehicle got brighter and brighter and grew larger and larger, causing the second stage called Glenn Stage 2 to also explode. This then all added together to create one final giant over pressure, leading to the demise of the entire vehicle, transporter erector, and some launchpad infrastructure. During the explosion itself, we can see that the huge launch tower on the left side of this view actually swayed back and forth. You need to put in some serious effort to sway that tower. It's over 150 m tall with foundations as well in the ground. The huge fireball then enveloped the entire launch site, making it impossible to see what was going on inside. During this time, we could see some streaks of vapor flying off at high speeds. These are very likely COPVS or composite overrap pressure vessels making a bid for freedom. They're tanks which are specifically designed to house high pressure gases for use on board the vehicle. Therefore, when punctured, you can imagine why they fly off at such velocities. That fireball continued to rise higher and higher, eventually piercing through the clouds, creating a huge mushroom cloud, potentially the largest Florida space coast has ever seen. And when it rose through the clouds, it revealed a better picture of the catastrophic damage left behind. The lightning tower on the right hand side from this perspective is gone. The explosion shook the umbilical tower, but it decimated the lightning tower. The water tower, however, situated slightly further away, seems to have survived, though. The old trusty Cape Canaveral lighthouse is also still standing. As we head into the night, LC36 is still burning. I think it's safe to guess that if a tower got knocked over, the tank farm is also not in great shape right now. We'll be getting aerial or satellite imagery as soon as possible to reveal the true extent of this anomaly.

[00:02:59]If you don't want to miss that, make sure to subscribe to our channels and follow us across the socials. Another point to make is that this static fire was preparing for their return to flight mission following their second stage anomaly on nuclear 3. They failed to deliver their customer payload, a satellite for A Space Mobile into the correct orbit, leaving it to re-enter Earth's atmosphere. This also follows another explosion at the Kennedy Space Center a few weeks ago, although on a much smaller scale. A new Glenn Stage 2 went pop inside of their testing facility, blowing a hole in the roof.

[00:03:29]But as with all big explosions, it will give them the opportunity to build back better. Blue Origin had already been planning on upgrading their tank farm infrastructure to introduce subcooling, which will increase the performance of New Glenn. While this is going to be a much bigger job than initially anticipated, it will give them the opportunity to introduce upgrades as they prepare for the next flight. Plus, the towers are probably going to need rebuilding. Even though the umbilical tower is still standing, it was just violently shaken, so its foundations might not be in the best shape right now. The lightning tower, well, that one speaks for itself. Blue Origin's official communication of the anomaly so far is, quote, "We experienced an anomaly during today's hot fire test.

[00:04:07]All personnel have been accounted for.

[00:04:08]We will provide updates as we learn more. It is of course wonderful to hear that everybody is safe after this explosion. We've also seen reaction from the industry, including words of commiseration from SpaceX chief Elon Musk. As I'm recording, we've also heard from Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin, who says, quote, "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." Both Blue Origin and SpaceX are key players in NASA's Optimus program, including building and launching the Luna landers. Starship just flew its first V3 test flight, and New Glenn was supposedly an operational vehicle. With LC36 in its current state, it's still unclear how this will impact the program. We'll keep tracking this story because Blue has a lot of work to do to return to flight. I've been Ryan Ken for NSF. Thanks for watching and goodbye.