Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its massive New Glenn rocket on its inaugural flight early Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Named after astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, the 320-foot (98-meter) rocket aims to bolster Blue Origin’s role in the competitive space industry, currently dominated by SpaceX.
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The New Glenn rocket carried a prototype satellite designed to remain inside its second stage during this test mission, orbiting thousands of miles above Earth for approximately six hours.
The mission concluded with the second stage placed in a safe orbit to minimize space debris, aligning with Nasa’s sustainability practices.
The rocket’s first-stage booster attempted a controlled landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, a key step toward reusability. Blue Origin envisions six to eight New Glenn flights this year, with the next mission slated for spring.
The launch took place at the historic Complex 36, rebuilt at a cost of over $1 billion. Once used for Nasa’s Mariner and Pioneer spacecraft launches, the pad now symbolizes a bridge between space exploration’s storied past and its ambitious future.
Bezos, who participated in the launch from Blue Origin’s Mission Control, emphasised collaboration within the industry: “This is the very beginning of a new phase of the space age, where we’ll work together to lower the cost of access to space,” he said.
New Glenn’s debut joins a wave of cutting-edge rockets, including SpaceX’s Starship, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan, and Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS). While SpaceX remains the leader in rocket reusability and heavy-lift capabilities, Bezos insists Blue Origin is not in competition with Elon Musk’s company.
The New Glenn rocket is designed to support a range of missions, from deploying satellites to carrying astronauts to orbit and the moon. Its first lunar mission, using the Blue Moon lander, is planned for Nasa’s Artemis program’s third moon landing later this decade.
Originally planned to launch Nasa’s Escapade spacecraft to Mars in 2023, New Glenn faced delays that pushed the mission to spring 2025 at the earliest. These twin spacecraft are intended to study the Martian atmosphere and magnetosphere.
