Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin rocket exploded during testing – and he didn’t tell anyone

Blue Origin incident came just one month after securing $3.4 billion Nasa contract

Jeff Bezos’s private space firm accidentally blew up one of its rockets last month but did not publicly disclose the incident, according to reports.

The previously unreported explosion took place at Blue Origin’s testing facility in West Texas on 30 June, CNBC reported, citing sources wishing to remain anonymous.

Blue Origin confirmed the accident, stating that its team “ran into an issue while testing Vulcan’s Flight Engine 3.”

A spokesperson said: “No personnel were injured and we are currently assessing root cause... We already have proximate cause and are working on remedial actions.”

The incident came just one month after Bezos’ Blue Origin secured a multi-billion dollar contract with Nasa to develop a space craft to deliver astronauts to the Moon as part of the US space agency’s Artemis programme.

The $3.4 billion contract will help fund the development of Blue Origin’s human landing system, which is scheduled to touch down on the lunar surface during the Artemis V mission in 2029.

The company said the latest setback would not impact its engine delivery commitments to customers this year.

The BE-4 Blue Origin rocket was being built for United Launch Alliance (ULA), with a spokesperson for the venture saying the testing issue “is not expected to impact our plans” for its next mission.

Blue Origin only recently completed its first flight-ready BE-4 engines, despite initially being planned for 2017, with June’s explosion occurring during something known as an “acceptance test” (ATP). This is where individual units are tested and examined ahead of a flight.

ULA president Tory Bruno said on Tuesday that ATP failures were “not uncommon”, and a routine part of rocket development.

“We analyse each for potential crossover, as a discipline,” he tweeted.

“Many other BE-4s have passed ATP and one on to hot fire. This one had failed an earlier ATP attempt and was reworked.”