Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos, achieved a historic success with its New Glenn rocket. On its second flight, the rocket launched a critical NASA mission and achieved the first vertical landing on an offshore platform. Following this significant achievement, SpaceX owner Elon Musk congratulated Bezos.
Jeff Bezos received praise
The reusable rocket successfully returned and vertically landed on the offshore platform named “Jacklyn” in the Atlantic Ocean. Blue Origin attempted a similar landing during its first New Glenn launch earlier this year, but that attempt was unsuccessful.
On today’s flight, three of the rocket’s seven BE-4 engines were re-ignited, and the landing took place. The rocket’s re-entry into the atmosphere and landing on the offshore platform took approximately seven minutes. Jeff Bezos shared a video of the successful landing on his X account, to which Elon Musk replied, “Congratulations.”
Another milestone in the mission’s success was the launch of the ESCAPADE Mars mission, which included twin NASA spacecraft aboard the New Glenn rocket. The ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission consists of two commercially built spacecraft that will study how Mars lost its atmosphere and liquid water.
Following launch, main engine cutoff and interstage separation occurred approximately three minutes after liftoff. The rocket’s second stage carried the ESCAPADE satellites into orbit, while the first stage returned to Earth for landing.
The New Glenn rocket offers a 45-ton payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO). This capacity is comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and can carry almost twice as much payload as United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur.
Blue Origin aims to capture some of the Falcon 9’s market share with this 98-meter-long rocket. The rocket’s first stage is designed for at least 25 flights, and mission programs have already been established for customers such as the US government and communications companies.
The company will also use New Glenn for Amazon’s satellite internet project, Project Kuiper. Amazon holds licenses to launch more than 3,000 Kuiper internet satellites on various rockets. This achievement brings New Glenn one step closer to being qualified to carry critical security payloads for the US Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.
While the landing is of significant historical significance, the mission’s primary objective was to successfully deliver the ESCAPADE spacecraft to Mars. The two spacecraft separated and began their mission as planned 33.5 minutes after liftoff. ESCAPADE is the first mission to launch to Mars in five years.
