Blue Origin Blasts New Glenn Rocket Into Orbit on the First TryBlue Origin Blasts New Glenn Rocket Into Orbit on the First Try

They didn’t stick the booster’s landing on the drone ship, but New Glenn did put its payload into orbit.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

January 16, 2025

3 Min Read
Blue Origin's New Glenn lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Blue Origin's New Glenn lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Jan. 16, 2025.Blue Origin

At a Glance

  • New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during the NG-1 mission.
  • The second stage reached its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines.
  • The Pathfinder Blue Ring payload includes a communications array, power systems, and a flight computer.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos finally got his Blue Origin rocket company into orbit following several years of sub-orbital flight by the company’s New Shepard rocket (named for the first US astronaut, Alan Shepard, who flew a sub-orbital flight). The immense New Glenn rocket (named for the first orbital astronaut, John Glenn), lit its seven BE-4 engines at 02:03 EST on Jan. 16, departing from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The 320-foot rocket lifted off the pad with the slow majesty of a Saturn V moon rocket of the Apollo program, its 3.8 million pounds of thrust carrying a Blue Origin Blue Ring Pathfinder payload into low earth orbit on a flight that checks off requirements toward eligibility for US national security launch contracts.

The launch went flawlessly, but the company only said it “lost” the booster on the attempted return for landing during descent. “I’m incredibly proud New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt,” said Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp. “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.”  

The first-stage booster was to have fallen back to earth after separating from the second stage, lighting its three middle engines for a deceleration burn at 220,000 feet to slow its entry into the atmosphere. It would have relit those engines again at  9,000 feet for a final landing burn for 20 seconds, then switched to the center engine only for touch-down on the drone ship, Jacklyn.

Related:ULA’s Vulcan Booster Debuts Blue Origin’s BE-4 Rocket Engines

The company envisions launching Large satellites, dual payloads, orbital vehicles, large constellation dispensers, and lunar landers using New Glenn.

Blue Origin says that it has several more New Glenn boosters in production to address “multiple years of orders” from customers including NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, and telecommunications providers. Lunar missions are also planned for New Glenn, as it is slated to carry the Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander and the Mark 2 crewed lander to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.  

The Blue Ring Pathfinder was developed by Blue Origin’s In-Space Systems business unit to test Blue Ring’s core flight, ground systems, and operational capabilities as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Orbital Logistics prototype effort.

It includes a communications array, power systems, and a flight computer affixed to a secondary payload adapter ring and will validate Blue Ring’s communications capabilities from orbit to ground.

Related:FAA Closes Blue Origin Launch Investigation

The six-month mission will also test its in-space telemetry, tracking and command hardware, and ground-based radiometric tracking that will be used on the future Blue Ring production space vehicle.

Blue Ring will be a space ferry that can maneuver to multiple orbits and locations, deploy and host payloads, and perform onboard computing and communications for a variety of customers. It can host 3,000-kilogram payloads such as ESPA and ESPA Grande class satellites, across its 13 docking ports and top deck, navigating them to destinations in geosynchronous orbit, cislunar orbit, and interplanetary space.

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

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He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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