No one harmed in dramatic Blue Origin rocket explosion during test

Officials have said that no one has been harmed as a space rocket exploded on a launch pad in Florida.

Space company Blue Origin were putting their New Glenn rocket through a test at 9pm local time (2am in the UK) when it burst into flames.

The company posted on the social media platform X that the explosion was an "anomaly", which is when something unusual happens that isn't expected.

Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who founded and owns Blue Origin, also took to X to say that it had been a "very rough day".

He added: "All personnel are accounted for and safe. It's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it."

The New Glenn was being put through what's called a static fire test, which is when a rocket's engines are fired without it launching.

It was seen exploding during the test in a video filmed from far away.

One of the 98-metre tall New Glenn rockets first launched last year, and is meant to be reusable.

However the mission in January 2025 didn't go fully to plan, as it wasn't able to land on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean and so couldn't be used again.

The New Glenn was launched and landed successfully in November, but there were more setbacks to come.

Last month, the rocket failed to deliver a satellite into orbit correctly.

Blue Origin, along with rival company SpaceX, have been selected by Nasa to provide rockets and landers for their Artemis and Moon Base missions.

Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on X: "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."