Footage from the moment of the explosion at the New Glenn heavy rocket tests has been published

On the night of May 29, during tests at the Cape Canaveral launch complex (Florida), an explosion occurred on Blue Origin's New Glenn heavy launch vehicle. All the details are in the Izvestia article.

Video recording of the incident

Videos of the explosion appeared online. The footage shows a bright flash that suddenly appeared at the base of the rocket, followed a few seconds later by a powerful explosion. A huge mushroom of fire and a thick cloud of smoke rose above the launch pad. According to the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the sound of the explosion was recorded by cameras several miles away.

Circumstances and consequences

Blue Origin called the incident an "anomaly." The tests were a "hot fire test" — a key stage of preparation, when all seven engines of the first stage are launched, but the rocket remains fixed on the launch platform. According to NS, the explosion occurred at the LC-36 complex during an attempt to conduct a static fire test before the NG-4 mission. As a result of the incident, the right tower of the lightning protection system collapsed, after which the rocket was no longer visible. None of the company's employees were injured.

Elon Musk's reaction

The head of SpaceX, American entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk reacted to the incident on his page on the social network X (ex. Twitter). He called the test unsuccessful and stressed that "missiles are difficult."