Triumph and Setback -
New Glenn’s Maiden Launch

Blue Origin successfully launched its heavy-lift rocket, New Glenn, on its maiden flight but failed to land the first stage on a sea platform.

The massive rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after numerous delays, including several scrubs earlier this week. All engines performed as expected, completing their role about three minutes into the flight, when the first stage separated from the second at an altitude of approximately 83 kilometers. Shortly afterward, the two second-stage engines ignited as planned, propelling it further into space. Twelve minutes after launch, the company confirmed that the rocket had reached its designated orbit.

The first stage continued on its free trajectory, reaching its apogee before beginning its descent. Prior to re-entering the atmosphere, it ignited three engines as planned, in order to slow down, descending toward the drone ship Jacqueline, waiting in the Atlantic Ocean. However, contact with the stage was lost at an altitude of about 25 kilometers, and minutes later, the company confirmed the stage had crashed.

The second stage, now in orbit around Earth, will carry out a demonstration mission to simulate satellite deployment. However, it will not release any satellites, and its deployment mechanism will remain attached for this flight, unlike its intended operation in future missions. Blue Origin repeatedly emphasized that achieving orbit was the primary goal of this first test flight, with any additional success considered a bonus.

New Glenn is a two-stage heavy-lift rocket comparable in scale to SpaceX's Falcon Heavy or ULA's Vulcan Centaur. The towering rocket, standing 98 meters tall with a diameter of seven meters, is designed to carry payloads of 45 tons to low-Earth orbit or smaller payloads to distant destinations such as geostationary orbit, the Moon, or Mars.

The first stage of New Glenn is designed for reusability, with plans to make the second stage reusable in the future, similar to SpaceX’s Starship. This feature could make it more cost-effective than other rockets in this category, where reusability is either partial or non-existent.  The company hopes this will enable it to offer competitive prices in the heavy-lift market.

Aiming to compete in the heavy-lift market? Blue Origin illustration shows New Glenn in two-stage and three-stage configurations (and the first stage alone), compared to several other rockets. Starship, not shown in the illustration, dwarfs them all. | Source: Blue Origin

Development at a Slow Pace

The first stage of New Glenn is equipped with seven BE-4 engines, developed by Blue Origin, which also manufactures them for rockets from other companies. The engines use methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen as propellants, similar to SpaceX’s Starship. The second stage features two BE-3U engines, powered by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.

New Glenn is named after astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. Similarly, the company’s smaller launch vehicle, primarily used for suborbital tourist flights, is named New Shepard, after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. During the broadcast leading up to the launch, Blue Origin personnel shared a letter Glenn had sent to company founder Jeff Bezos before his death in 2016. In the letter, Glenn expressed his excitement over the company’s decision to name its second-generation rocket after him.

Rocket development began over a decade ago and was officially unveiled in 2016, with a planned launch in 2020. Despite being in the early stages of development, Blue Origin secured several contracts to launch communication satellites using the new rocket. However, the company lost a critical U.S. Air Force bid, and the lack of associated funding led to further delays in the rocket’s development.

The rocket's maiden flight was initially planned to carry small NASA satellites to Mars, but the space agency withdrew when it became evident the rocket would not be ready for the fall 2024 launch window. Instead, Blue Origin launched its own mission, Blue Ring, to demonstrate the second stage's capabilities and performance to potential civilian and defense customers. This mission is focused on showcasing satellite deployment capabilities, with the deployment system remaining attached to the second stage, which is scheduled to re-enter the atmosphere a few hours later.

Demonstrating satellite deployment capabilities. The Blue Ring Pathfinder system positioned between the two halves of the rocket’s second stage payload fairing during pre-launch preparations. | Photo: Blue Origin

Even if the new rocket overcomes its challenges, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin may find it difficult to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX and its advanced Starship development. Notably, Blue Origin, founded in 2000—two years before SpaceX—has only now achieved its first orbital launch. However, the New Glenn rocket is poised to support Blue Origin's own initiatives, including the company's lunar lander, which has been selected for follow-up missions in NASA's Artemis program after the initial manned landings using SpaceX's Starship. A heavy-lift operational rocket is also expected to play a crucial role in realizing Bezos's vision of building Orbital Reef, a private space station designed for both commercial enterprises and space tourism.

Mission Overview: