A Blue Origin rocket has shockingly exploded in a fireball directly on its launchpad. According to the BBC, the incident happened at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Blue Origin explained in a statement on social media that the incident occurred due to an "anomaly" during a hotfire test. A hotfire test is where a rocket's engine is ignited while the rocket is still fastened to the ground. It typically lets engineers look at the performance of the rocket.
Videos of the incident show a fire starting at the base of the rocket. It rapidly expands upward, engulfing it in a fiery explosion.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of the company, also took to social media to announce that no one was injured in the incident. He added that "it's too early to know the root cause but we're already working to find it."
Emergency responders arrived at the scene to ensure everyone's safety. Officials from the US Space Force also explained they were working with Blue Origin to figure out exactly what happened.
Bezos added, "Very rough day, but we'll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It's worth it."
Videos by Wide Open Country
Locals Posted Clips Online of the Rocket Explosion From Their Homes
And some of the clips are super wild. One Cape Canaveral posted a clip of his pizza delivery from his video doorbell on X. It looks pretty standard, with the delivery driver walking up and placing the pizza down.
But as he does it, a bright light fills the air, illuminating the whole street. He captured the post, "My pizza delivery was a little interesting..." People found the clip pretty funny, with one writing, "Nice sunset, oh nvm". The original poster replied, "I thought it was too till I realized it was 9pm"
Other wild clips include an aerial view from a JetBlue plane during its approach to Orlando Airport. The beautiful city lights are blotted out by what appears to be something akin to a sunset. But it then fizzles out, showing that it was in fact past 9pm when the incident occurred.
This is an absolutely wild incident. We're just glad that everyone's okay.
