Blue Origin launched its massive New Glenn rocket for the first time on Thursday, marking a pivotal milestone for Jeff Bezos’ space exploration company.
In the early hours in Florida, New Glenn roared to life, ascending off the launch pad and reaching space, ultimately achieving orbit as part of its long-awaited debut mission.
While the launch was a success in reaching space, Blue Origin’s attempt to recover the rocket’s booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean fell short, as the booster was lost during its reentry through the atmosphere.
This inaugural launch represents a defining moment for Blue Origin. Despite being founded 25 years ago, Bezos’ company had not yet entered orbital flight. Its smaller New Shepard rocket has primarily been used for brief suborbital missions, carrying passengers and research payloads to the edge of space.
With New Glenn’s first flight, Blue Origin officially steps into a competitive market largely dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, advancing Bezos’ broader vision for the company.
The New Glenn rocket, named in honor of John Glenn—the first American to orbit the Earth—carried a small test payload on this uncrewed mission. Originally, Blue Origin aimed for an ambitious debut, planning to fly NASA’s “ESCAPADE” mission to Mars.
However, due to scheduling constraints, NASA postponed ESCAPADE to a later launch. Blue Origin has several other major contracts in place, including at least 12 launches for Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet initiative and future missions involving the Blue Moon lunar lander and the Orbital Reef space station. Bezos founded Amazon six years prior to establishing Blue Origin.
Headquartered in Kent, Washington, a Seattle suburb, Blue Origin employs over 10,000 people across various locations, including Texas, Florida, and Alabama. CEO Dave Limp acknowledged the company’s longstanding focus on research and development, noting his efforts to transition Blue Origin toward a more production-oriented culture.
Blue Origin has ambitious plans for New Glenn, aiming to execute as many as 10 launches this year. Initially slated for a 2020 debut, the rocket faced years of delays due to technical challenges.
During this first mission, the booster—dubbed “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance”—attempted to land on the company’s recovery barge, Jacklyn, located approximately 600 miles offshore. However, the booster failed to land, with its descent last tracked at an altitude of about 84,000 feet.
While the flight did not deploy satellites, it tested a small demonstration of the company’s “Blue Ring” spacecraft, an orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) designed to deliver satellites and other payloads to specific destinations in space.
Standing 322 feet tall—about the height of a 30-story building—New Glenn is nearly as large as the historic Saturn V rockets that powered the Apollo missions.
The rocket’s seven BE-4 engines produce nearly 4 million pounds of thrust, and its nosecone can accommodate payloads as large as three school buses. Powered by liquid oxygen and liquid methane, New Glenn is designed for partial reusability, with plans to reuse each booster up to 25 times.
Positioned between SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets in terms of payload capacity, New Glenn can deliver up to 45,000 kilograms (approximately 100,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit.
Although Blue Origin has not disclosed specific launch costs, estimates place the price at around $70 million per launch. In the past, the company revealed that $2.5 billion had been invested in New Glenn’s development by 2020.
Despite its slower entry into orbital missions, Blue Origin has secured a position in the competitive U.S. launch market. The company joined SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) in the Pentagon’s $5.6 billion National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, granting it access to lucrative military contracts.
While SpaceX has maintained a dominant lead in the commercial spaceflight industry, Bezos remains optimistic about Blue Origin’s trajectory. “I think it’s going to be the best business that I’ve ever been involved in, but it’s going to take a while,” he said recently.