During a firing on June 30 at a West Texas facility of Jeff Bezos’ space company, a BE-4 engine detonated about 10 seconds into the test, according to several people familiar with the matter. Those people described having seen video of a dramatic explosion that destroyed the engine and heavily damaged the test stand infrastructure.

The people spoke to CNBC on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic matters.

The engine that exploded was expected to finish testing in July. It was then scheduled to ship to Blue Origin’s customer United Launch Alliance for use on ULA’s second Vulcan rocket launch, those people said.

[Rocket science advances through testing and failure, usually without loss of human life. The importance is to learn lessons and re-engineer to avoid those failures in the future. However, with SpaceX turning in routine success on its missions — including one today — Bezos at least seems to be slipping further and further behind Elon Musk. — Ed]