The multi-billionaire and husband to former journalist Lauren Sánchez, Jeff Bezos, is used to making big splashes with his ginormous yacht, his spectacular business career in which he founded Amazon, regularly listed as the fifth largest company in the world, and his efforts in space exploration with his venture, Blue Origin.
Unfortunately, his vision experienced a setback Thursday evening, an incredibly dramatic one, but luckily, no one was hurt. His 320-foot New Glenn rocket was undergoing testing ahead of an upcoming launch of broadband satellites when it exploded in a massive fireball that almost looked nuclear:
🚨 JUST NOW: Jeff Bezos’ New Glenn rocket has EXPLODED into a MASSIVE fireball on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral in Florida
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) May 29, 2026
It literally looks like a NUCLEAR BOMB went off.@ElonMusk responded: “Most unfortunate. Rockets are hard.”
Insane to watch. pic.twitter.com/UI4QjkmLzS
Videos of the event are going viral because of the sheer size of the blast:
This angle is even crazier https://t.co/bDUuiafnTg pic.twitter.com/LuLG3frNw2
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 29, 2026
Although there are many things one can say about Bezos, both positive and negative — his Katy Perry-Gayle King NS‑31 mission was pretty cringeworthy — I actually don’t mock him for attempting to expand our frontiers. As noted in the above tweet, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who has seen much success in his own otherworldly adventures, wrote, “Rockets are hard.”
While he may have been giving his fellow multi-billionaire a “friendly” rib with the comment, it is also undoubtedly true, as we’ve seen with the tragedy of Apollo 1 in 1967, where three astronauts were burned alive during pre‑launch testing, and many other disasters.
Bezos admitted it was a rough day:
All personnel are accounted for and safe. 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.
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) May 29, 2026
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Blue Origin also gave an update:
We experienced an anomaly during today's hotfire test. All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) May 29, 2026
And lest you think Musk was merely trolling Blue Origin, he also posted a classy message:
Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman also weighed in on social media, writing that "spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult."
The incident underscored just how incredibly complicated spaceflight is — and how dangerous. It’s a miracle that no one was hurt in this colossal explosion. RedState will keep you updated as to the cause as new information comes in.
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