Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket on Thursday, carrying a pair of NASA spacecraft intended for Mars. This marked the second flight for the 321-foot (98-meter) rocket developed by Jeff Bezos’ company.
The launch took place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station after being delayed four days due to poor weather and solar storms. The mission’s main objective was to send NASA’s twin Mars orbiters, named Escapade, on their journey toward the red planet.
For the first time, Blue Origin managed to recover the booster after separation from the upper stage and payload. The booster landed upright on a barge located 375 miles (600 kilometers) offshore. Jeff Bezos observed from Launch Control as employees celebrated this milestone, which is expected to help reduce costs through reusability—a strategy already used by SpaceX.
After booster recovery, the rocket’s upper stage deployed both Mars orbiters in space about twenty minutes post-liftoff. Congratulations were extended from NASA officials and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
New Glenn’s previous test flight in January had delivered a prototype satellite into orbit but failed to recover its booster.
The Escapade spacecraft will remain near Earth for about a year before using gravity assist to head toward Mars when planetary alignment is optimal next fall. They are expected to arrive at Mars in 2027. Once in Martian orbit, they will study the planet’s upper atmosphere and magnetic fields as well as interactions with solar wind—research that could inform future astronaut protection strategies against radiation on Mars.
Rob Lillis of UC Berkeley, lead scientist for Escapade, stated ahead of launch: “We really, really want to understand the interaction of the solar wind with Mars better than we do now. Escapade is going to bring an unprecedented stereo viewpoint because we’re going to have two spacecraft at the same time.”
The mission operates under a budget of less than $80 million and is managed by UC Berkeley. NASA opted for one of New Glenn’s early flights as a cost-saving measure but postponed last year’s planned launch due to concerns over possible delays with Blue Origin’s new vehicle.
Named after John Glenn—the first American astronaut to orbit Earth—New Glenn is significantly larger than Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard rockets used for space tourism flights out of West Texas. In coming months, Blue Origin plans another New Glenn launch featuring a prototype lunar lander called Blue Moon.
Blue Origin was founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in 2000 and holds a NASA contract for an upcoming crewed Artemis moon landing mission. While SpaceX won contracts for earlier Artemis crew landings using its Starship rocket—which stands nearly 100 feet taller than New Glenn—NASA recently reopened bidding for the first crewed lunar landing over concerns regarding Starship’s progress in testing.
NASA intends to send astronauts around the moon next year using its own SLS rocket as part of Artemis missions aimed at returning humans to the lunar surface before decade’s end amid competition with China.
