Jeff Bezos Owned Blue Origin Rocket Explodes During Launch Test

Key Takeaways

• Blue Origin’s New Glenn exploded at Cape Canaveral on May 28 one day after NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188M Moon Base contract
• All 12 of Blue Origin’s planned 2026 launches are now at risk as pad repairs could take months and New Glenn was already years behind schedule
• Blue Origin is owned by Jeff Bezos who funds it by selling Amazon shares at $2B per year with no Blue Origin stock available to the public

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral on the night of May 28, destroying the vehicle and creating the largest fireball in the company’s history. The explosion happened during a static fire test, just one day after NASA awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract to deliver rovers to the Moon’s surface as part of the Artemis lunar exploration program. Blue Origin has no public stock since Jeff Bezos owns the company privately and funds it by selling Amazon shares at roughly $2 billion per year. But for SpaceX, which filed confidentially for an IPO earlier this month, this was an unexpected competitive gift.

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New Glenn Explosion Puts Blue Origin’s NASA Deal and 12 Planned Launches at Risk

Blue Origin reported on social media platform X:

Around 9 PM ET on May 28, Blue Origin attempted to ignite the seven BE-4 first-stage engines on the New Glenn rocket as part of a routine hotfire test ahead of its fourth planned launch. The rocket was fully fueled at the time. Video captured by NASASpaceFlight showed the vehicle erupting into a massive fireball that sent flames and smoke billowing into the night sky. A lightning protection tower was also reportedly knocked over by the blast.

The rocket was being prepared to carry 48 satellites for Amazon’s internet constellation, Leo, on its next mission. Amazon confirmed no satellites were on board during the test. The constellation is a direct competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink network.

The World Reacts

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos put out a statement Thursday evening admitting it was a “very rough day.”

“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.”

Elon Musk, whose SpaceX is Blue Origin’s most direct competitor, responded briefly on X:

“Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.”

Furthermore, the New Glenn explosion is not just a setback for Blue Origin, but for NASA as a whole. The government space agency has contracted both Blue Origin and SpaceX to take astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the moon. NASA announced earlier this week that it had awarded Blue Origin a $188 million contract for two New Glenn rockets to take rovers to the moon in 2028 for astronauts to drive during the Artemis IV and Artemis V missions.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who had praised Blue Origin just the day before while announcing the contract, also weighed in.

“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.”

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The Damage Goes Beyond the Rocket

Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is the only launch pad that can handle New Glenn. Repairs will take months, possibly longer. Blue Origin had been targeting as many as 12 New Glenn launches for 2026. All of those are now at risk. Blue Origin planned national security missions for the Pentagon using New Glenn, and NASA needs the rocket to launch a Blue Moon lander for the Artemis III mission next year.

The explosion also comes at a rough stretch for the program. New Glenn’s third launch in April 2026 ended with an upper stage failure that caused the total loss of an AST SpaceMobile satellite. The FAA had only cleared New Glenn to fly again on May 22, just six days before Thursday’s explosion.

SpaceX and the IPO Timing

The timing could not be more awkward for Blue Origin or more convenient for SpaceX. SpaceX filed confidentially for an IPO earlier this month and is expected to become the first trillion-dollar US market debut. Every New Glenn delay effectively extends SpaceX’s grip on the commercial launch market and also strengthens its case to investors ahead of that listing.

Blue Origin has spent roughly a decade and billions of dollars developing New Glenn, a 29-story rocket with a reusable first stage meant to compete directly with SpaceX’s Falcon fleet. It flew for the first time in January 2025 and reached orbit. But the program has consistently run behind its original schedule and right now the gap between the two companies is wider than it has ever been.

There is no Blue Origin stock to trade in response to any of this. Bezos sells approximately $2 billion in Amazon shares per year to fund Blue Origin and has not announced an IPO. After hours, Amazon stock ticked down half a percent. For investors watching the space sector, the New Glenn explosion is a reminder of how difficult it is to build and operate heavy-lift rockets and how much SpaceX’s head start is worth.

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