Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explodes during ground test

LOS ANGELES, May 28 (Xinhua) -- American private space company Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded on the launch pad during an engine hotfire test at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the U.S. state of Florida on Thursday, U.S. media reported.

The company later confirmed on X that it had experienced an "anomaly" during testing, adding that all personnel had been accounted for.

According to media reports, the incident occurred at about 9 p.m. Eastern Time (0100 GMT) during preparations for a planned engine firing test.

The satellites were not aboard the rocket at the time of the incident, CBS reported.

It remains unclear how much damage the launch pad and ground equipment sustained or how long repairs may take.

The rocket was scheduled to launch as early as June 4 on its fourth mission, carrying 48 satellites for Amazon's low-Earth orbit internet constellation project.

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said on X that it was still too early to determine the root cause of the incident.

"Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying," Bezos added. ■