Blue Origin finally pulled off a flawless liftoff and booster landing on Thursday after two earlier attempts were scrubbed earlier in the week. Even on launch day, the countdown halted twice before the New Glenn rocket roared into the sky at 3:55 p.m. New York time.
The 320-foot-tall rocket carried two NASA satellites, Blue and Gold, part of the agency’s Escapade mission to study Mars’s atmosphere and its interaction with solar winds.
Booster lands on Atlantic platform in historic milestone
Minutes after liftoff, New Glenn’s upper stage continued toward space while its massive lower booster began its return journey. It fired its engines, slowed its descent, and touched down vertically on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean — a feat previously achieved only by SpaceX.
Raucous applause erupted in mission control as the booster settled onto the platform.
Jeff Bezos, standing beside Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, celebrated with employees.
Launch commentator Tabitha Lipkin hailed the moment, saying: “We’re here, we’re in the game, we have a reusable booster and this is just the beginning.”
Bezos later posted on Instagram, praising the precision landing: “We nominally target a few hundred feet away from Jacklyn to avoid a severe impact if engines fail to start or start slowly… Amazing performance by the team! Gradatim Ferociter.”
NASA spacecraft on course to Mars
Shortly after the booster’s landing, Blue Origin confirmed the successful deployment of the Rocket Lab–built spacecraft. The probes will first remain in a stable orbit before beginning their journey to Mars next year, when Earth and the Red Planet are closest.
The mission — named Escapade — marks New Glenn’s second-ever flight and its first for NASA.
A critical moment for Blue Origin’s future
New Glenn is central to Blue Origin’s ambitions to expand beyond suborbital tourism and take on large-scale missions. The rocket is years behind schedule and had endured a nine-month gap since its debut launch in January, where the booster missed its landing.
Thursday’s success now places Blue Origin firmly back in contention to challenge SpaceX’s dominance.
Only SpaceX has previously landed orbital-class boosters reliably, using its Falcon 9 — the world’s most frequently launched rocket. Blue Origin hopes New Glenn’s partial reusability will accelerate its own launch cadence.
CEO Dave Limp has earlier projected six to eight New Glenn flights in 2025, positioning the company to tackle its $10 billion backlog of satellite and spacecraft contracts.
Key step toward future NASA missions
With its larger lift capacity, New Glenn is crucial to Blue Origin’s commitments for deep-space and lunar missions. The company is contracted to fly astronauts to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis V programme.
New Glenn joins next-generation heavy launch systems such as ULA’s Vulcan and the European Space Agency’s Ariane 6, all seeking to expand their foothold in the global launch market despite delays and scaling challenges. A new chapter in the billionaire space race.
By successfully landing its booster and deploying Mars-bound spacecraft in a single mission, Blue Origin has taken one of its most significant steps yet toward competing head-to-head with SpaceX.
