The space program of the company Blue Origin was one step away from total disaster, as an "anomaly" during tests led to a terrifying explosion at the Cape Canaveral base in Florida, US. The video that captured the moment of the explosion of the heavy two-stage orbital rocket New Glenn at the launch pad is already making the rounds on the internet, causing shock. 
The head of the aerospace company, Jeff Bezos, officially took a position on the incident through the X platform, confirming that fortunately, there were no injuries among the employees. "It is too early to say what the root cause was, but we are already working intensively to identify it," he pointed out, while the company Blue Origin refers to an unpredictable "anomaly" that led to the destructive event.
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) May 29, 2026
Massive explosion by Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on a launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida
Major setback for Jeff Bezos pic.twitter.com/qTOpDxGXLB
The reaction from his great rival and founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, was immediate and enigmatic. Commenting on the images, Elon Musk highlighted the extreme complexity involved in creating space rockets. "Very unfortunate event. Rockets are a difficult business," he wrote characteristically, while also expressing the hope that Blue Origin will soon manage to recover from this heavy blow. 
The rivalry between the two billionaires for dominance in space has just taken a new turn.
The "Beast" New Glenn
To understand the magnitude of the blow for Jeff Bezos, some crucial data behind the New Glenn project is sufficient: It is a giant heavy-lift rocket, with a height reaching 98 meters (almost as tall as a 30-story building). It was designed to carry payloads of over 45 tons into low Earth orbit and constitutes the main "weapon" of Jeff Bezos to break the monopoly of Elon Musk's SpaceX.
What is an "Anomaly"?
In space terminology, this word is the elegant way scientists describe a sudden, catastrophic failure—often an uncontrolled explosion of fuel during static fire tests.
The billions that "burned"
The New Glenn rocket uses the powerful BE-4 engines, which are powered by liquefied natural gas (methane) and liquid oxygen. Each such failure costs hundreds of millions of dollars and sets the schedule for commercial flights back by many months.
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