Blue Origin’s colossal New Glenn rocket successfully launched into orbit early morning on January 16, marking the first mission for Jeff Bezos’ space company as it eyes competition with SpaceX in the satellite launch market.
The uncrewed test flight carried a demonstration payload to space, testing communications and other components for Blue Origin’s planned Blue Ring spacecraft.
The towering 30-story rocket, featuring a reusable first stage, lifted off at approximately 2 a.m. ET (0700 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch came after an earlier attempt earlier in the week was scrubbed due to technical issues. The rocket’s seven engines roared to life under cloudy skies, marking a critical milestone in Blue Origin’s decade-long journey.
The launch represented a significant achievement for Blue Origin. Employees at the company’s headquarters in Kent, Washington, and its Cape Canaveral facility erupted in cheers as the rocket’s second stage reached orbit.
“I’m incredibly proud New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt,” said Dave Limp, CEO, Blue Origin. “We knew landing our booster, So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance, on the first try was an ambitious goal. We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring. Thank you to all of Team Blue for this incredible milestone.”
“We hit our key, critical, number-one objective, we got to orbit safely,” Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s Vice President, said during a live stream of the event. “And y’all, we did it on our first go.”
However, the rocket’s reusable first stage failed to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean after separating from the second stage. “We did in fact lose the booster,” Cornell confirmed. Despite this setback, the mission was deemed a success as the primary objective of reaching orbit was accomplished.
The New Glenn rocket’s development spanned over a decade, with billions of dollars invested. It marks a significant step forward for Blue Origin, which has long sought to establish itself as a rival to SpaceX. The payload for this mission included the first prototype of the Blue Ring spacecraft, a maneuverable vehicle intended for national security and satellite servicing missions.
“Today marks a new era for Blue Origin and for commercial space,” said Jarrett Jones, Senior Vice President, New Glenn.
“We’re focused on ramping our launch cadence and manufacturing rates. My heartfelt thanks to everyone at Blue Origin for the tremendous amount of work in making today’s success possible, and to our customers and the space community for their continuous support. We felt that immensely today.”
Jeff Bezos, who monitored the launch from Blue Origin’s mission control, called the milestone a proud moment. Although he expressed nervousness about landing the booster, he noted that achieving orbit was the primary goal, with a safe booster recovery being “icing on the cake.”
New Glenn is poised to handle dozens of missions in the coming years, including launches for Amazon’s Kuiper satellite internet network, which aims to rival SpaceX’s Starlink. With its first orbital launch completed, Blue Origin takes a significant step forward in the commercial space race.