🔥 Explore this trending post from TechCrunch 📖
📂 Category: Space,Blue Origin,new glenn
✅ Key idea:
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has landed a booster for its massive New Glenn rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean in just its second attempt — making it the second company to pull off such a feat, after Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
It’s an achievement that will help the new rocket system become an option for sending larger payloads to space, the moon and beyond.
However, Thursday’s launch wasn’t just about the landing attempt. About 34 minutes after liftoff, New Glenn’s upper stage successfully deployed the rocket’s first commercial payload: a dual NASA spacecraft that will travel to Mars to study the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
These are both remarkable achievements for the second launch ever of such a massive missile system. It could put Blue Origin in a position to compete with SpaceX, which dominates the world’s launch market with its Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship rockets.
This is a noteworthy accomplishment for the broader space industry, and one that SpaceX CEO Gwen Shotwell acknowledged via a post on social media site X with a simple “Awesome!”
New Glenn’s first launch took place in January, and Blue Origin faced a number of delays in launching the second rocket. The company had hoped to make a second attempt early in the spring, but has postponed it several times. New Glenn finally arrived at the launch pad on Sunday, but weather and solar storms delayed it further.
The rocket finally lifted off from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday at around 3:55 p.m. ET. About four minutes into the flight, the second stage separated and headed into space, while the New Glenn rocket began its journey back toward Earth. After about 10 minutes of flight, the 189-foot rocket touched down on the pad.
TechCrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
Blue Origin attempted to return the New Glenn booster for the rocket’s maiden flight in January. But the missile exploded before it had a chance to land on the drone ship. Blue Origin worked with the FAA to identify and make a number of repairs to the rocket, and the company was confident it could commit to landing on the second attempt.
The ability to land a booster rocket like this is an important step in making the rocket system reusable, reducing cost for customers, and is a capability that SpaceX has mastered. Blue Origin will now have to prove it can refurbish the rocket’s booster and launch it again.
These are critical capabilities for commercial customers and government missions. Blue Origin has been eyeing the moon for years, and is currently developing a lunar lander. The same goes for SpaceX, with Starship. But the government has asked them to speed up those programs, and Sean Duffy, NASA’s acting administrator, recently criticized SpaceX for moving too slowly.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp recently said in response that his company would “move heaven and earth” to help NASA get back to the moon faster. But she can’t do that without successfully proving all of New Glenn’s abilities.
Thursday’s launch went a long way toward achieving that overarching goal.
🔥 Tell us your thoughts in comments!
#️⃣ #Blue #Origin #landing #Glenn #rocket #launches #NASA #spacecraft
🕒 Posted on 1763071740
