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Blue Origin rocket explodes on launch pad in Florida
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Video shows Blue Origin rocket exploding on Florida launch pad 00:29 A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The explosion occurred at about 9 p.m. ET. Blue Origin said there were no injuries from the incident. "We experienced an anomaly during today's hotfire test," Blue Origin said in a statement. "All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more." Cape Canaveral Space Force Station also confirmed in a separate statement that "all personnel have been accounted for and there were no injuries/fatalities." Blue Origin was scheduled to fuel the rocket Thursday evening ahead of a planned test firing of the rocket's engines. Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its third New Glenn rocket last month. This rocket was being prepared for the fourth New Glenn mission as soon as June 4 to launch 48 satellites for Amazon's Leo internet service, which competes with Elon Musk's Starlink. The 48 satellites were not aboard the rocket during the test. It was not immediately clear how much damage the launch pad and ground equipment sustained, or how long it might take to repair it. Space Launch Complex 36, where the explosion occurred, is the only launch pad equipped to launch New Glenn rockets. The New Glenn rocket is key to Blue Origin's and NASA's moon base plans, and the explosion will likely be a setback. Next year, the New Glenn is supposed to launch another Blue Moon lander as part of the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit. In a social media post, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote, "Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. 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." The New Glenn rocket had just been cleared on May 22 to return to flight after being grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration after an anomaly with the second stage during an April 19 launch. In a statement Thursday, the FAA said it was aware that the rocket had "experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida," adding that the "test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities." The FAA also noted that "there was no impact to air traffic" from the explosion. Bezos wrote on X Thursday night, "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." Musk wrote: "Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly."
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