The first stage of the New Glenn rocket built by Blue Origin landed vertically on a ship at sea after carrying two NASA spacecraft into space.
The New Glenn rocket lifted off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 3:45 p.m. on November 13, carrying two NASA Mars spacecraft and a technology test device for satellite communications company Viasat. About three minutes later, the main engine shut down and the rocket began to separate as planned.
After separation, the second rocket stage continued to carry the pair of NASA spacecraft into space, while the first stage performed multiple engine firings to slow its descent, preparing to land on Blue Origin’s Jacklyn spacecraft waiting in the Atlantic Ocean.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launched into space, first stage returned to land at sea. Video: Bloomberg Television
New Glenn attempted to land on its first launch in January but failed. At that time, Blue Origin did not expect the rocket to land correctly, but only wanted to collect data to increase the likelihood of success for future flights. This data brought good results for today’s launch, when the rocket’s booster landed vertically on the Jacklyn.
“An orbital rocket landed. This is a great day for Blue Origin, for the space industry,” commented Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s vice president of space systems.
The new achievement makes Blue Origin only the second company in history to recover a rocket during a real flight. The first company to achieve this milestone was SpaceX.
However, landing the booster was not the main goal of today’s launch, but rather to send the twin spacecraft from NASA’s Escapade mission into space. This goal was also successful when the two spacecraft flew to the right position about 33 minutes after launch.
Escapade is the first mission to send two privately built probes to Mars, studying how the planet lost its atmosphere and became the barren planet it is today. Built by Rocket Lab, the pair are estimated to cost less than $100 million – much less than NASA’s previous major Mars missions, which typically cost between $300 million and $600 million. They are scheduled to enter Mars orbit in September 2027.
New Glenn is a 98-meter-tall, two-stage reusable rocket. With a payload capacity of 50 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO), it is roughly as powerful as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and nearly twice as powerful as United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur. The first stage of New Glenn is designed to be capable of at least 25 flights. Today’s success brings the missile closer to its goal of landing high-value delivery contracts for the U.S. Space Force and the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
Admin (by Space, CNN)
