A rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos' space company burst into flames during a test at the launch pad on Thursday night.

In a post on X, Blue Origin said all personnel were accounted for. "We will provide updates as we learn more," it added.

Visuals on social media showed the rocket exploding in a fireball. A hot-fire test involves firing up a rocket engine while it is anchored to the ground.

Bezos vows to get back to flying

Blue Origin's owner, Jeff Bezos, said that the company has already begun investigating the cause of the explosion.

"It's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it," Bezos wrote on X. "Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it."

Blue Origin has invested billions of dollars over the past decade in developing New Glenn, a 29-story rocket with a reusable first stage. It is intended to compete with SpaceX's Falcon fleet and its more powerful Starship.

In April, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered Blue Origin to investigate the failure of the second stage of its massive New Glenn rocket.

NASA will support probe

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that his agency was aware of the New Glenn's "anomaly."

"Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult," he wrote on X.

"We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets," he added.

According to Isaacman, NASA will provide information on any impacts to the Artemis and Moon Base programs as it becomes available.

SpaceX and Blue Origin are racing to design the lunar landers that NASA will use to return people to the moon.

Edited by: Sean Sinico

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