The New Glenn mega-rocket booster from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully touched down on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean during its second flight — making the company the second to achieve this, after Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
This achievement should help make the new rocket system a viable option for sending bigger payloads into space, to the moon, and beyond.
However, Thursday’s launch involved more than just the landing attempt. About 34 minutes after liftoff, New Glenn’s upper stage successfully released the rocket’s initial commercial payload: a pair of NASA spacecraft destined for Mars to analyze the atmosphere of the red planet.
These two accomplishments are remarkable considering that this was only the second launch of such a huge rocket system. And this could allow Blue Origin to challenge SpaceX, which dominates the global launch market with its Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starship rockets.
The achievement is significant for the wider space industry, and SpaceX CEO Gwynne Shotwell acknowledged it with a simple “Magnificent!” on social media site X. Shortly afterward, Musk also offered his congratulations.
New Glenn’s first launch occurred in January, and Blue Origin faced several delays in launching the second rocket. The company had planned to make a second attempt as early as spring, but it was postponed multiple times. New Glenn finally reached the launch pad on Sunday, but weather and solar storms caused further delays.
The rocket finally launched from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at approximately 3:55 p.m. ET on Thursday. About four minutes into the flight, the second stage detached and continued into space, while the New Glenn booster started its return to Earth. The 189-foot-tall booster landed on the platform approximately 10 minutes into the flight.
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Blue Origin had tried to recover the New Glenn booster during the rocket’s first flight in January. However, the booster exploded before it could land on the drone ship. Blue Origin collaborated with the Federal Aviation Administration to find and address several issues with the rocket, and the company felt confident about succeeding with the landing on the second try.
The capacity to land a booster like this is a crucial step in making the rocket system reusable, which reduces costs for customers — a capability that SpaceX has perfected. Now, Blue Origin must demonstrate its ability to refurbish and relaunch the rocket booster.
These capabilities are essential for commercial clients and government missions. Blue Origin has been focused on the moon for many years and is currently working on a lunar lander, as is SpaceX with Starship. However, the government has urged them to accelerate these programs, and acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy recently criticized SpaceX for its slow progress.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp recently responded that his company “will move heaven and Earth” to help NASA return to the moon more quickly. But it cannot do so without effectively demonstrating all of New Glenn’s capabilities.
Thursday’s launch contributed significantly to achieving that overall objective.
