- Blue Origin launched its New Glenn rocket, successfully sending two NASA satellites toward Mars and achieving its first booster landing.
- The mission experienced several weather-related delays before liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
- The first-stage booster, called “Never Tell Me The Odds,” landed safely on the barge Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean.
- The launch supports NASA’s goals for Mars research and is part of the ESCAPADE mission to study the planet’s magnetic environment.
- SpaceX CEO Elon Musk congratulated the Blue Origin team on their successful flight and landing.
Blue Origin conducted a successful launch of its New Glenn rocket on Thursday from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission deployed two NASA satellites aimed at studying Mars’ magnetic environment, and marked the first time the New Glenn booster returned to Earth with a safe landing.
The launch had been postponed several times due to poor weather and technical issues with ground support equipment. Takeoff occurred at approximately 3:55 PM ET, after compliance with the Cumulus Cloud Rule, which restricts launches under certain electric field conditions.
As part of the mission, the first-stage booster—named “Never Tell Me The Odds”—completed a controlled landing on the ocean-going barge Jacklyn, stationed several hundred miles offshore. The booster’s name references a phrase from the film “The Empire Strikes Back.”
New Glenn is a partially reusable launch vehicle designed to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9. On its previous flight in January, Blue Origin achieved orbital insertion, but did not recover the booster. This mission’s successful landing demonstrates progress toward frequent rocket reusability.
The key payload, known as ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), consists of two identical spacecraft, Blue and Gold. Built by Rocket Lab with scientific instruments from the University of California, Berkeley, these satellites will investigate interactions between Mars’ magnetic field and the solar wind, which affects the planet’s atmospheric loss. The satellites are scheduled to begin their journey to Mars in fall 2026 when the planetary alignment is optimal.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk noted the achievement in a public message, stating: “Congratulations, Jeff Bezos, and Blue Origin team.” Several companies, including Rocket Lab and Firefly Aerospace, are strengthening their roles in the launch industry as they compete to support government and commercial missions.
This mission is an important step as Blue Origin aims to contribute significantly to NASA’s future projects focused on the Moon and Mars. According to acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy, “Every launch of New Glenn provides data that will be essential when we launch MK-1 through Artemis…”, as referenced in the article.
The mission also featured the first flight test of a new launch telemetry data relay service by satellite communications firm Viasat, which was carried aboard the New Glenn rocket.
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