'Never tell me the Odds,' Blue Origin set to launch New Glenn this summer, attempt landing
Blue Origin's multi-stage New Glenn rocket launched once in January, and the Space Coast has waited ever since for the second liftoff of the rocket which could become a main competitor to SpaceX.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp posted to X (formerly Twitter) that the company's rocket, originally set to launch again in late spring, will now blast off no earlier than August. The company will once again attempt to land and recover the rocket's first stage, also called a booster.
"New Glenn's second mission will take place NET August 15th. Following in the footsteps of our first booster, we've chosen the name 'Never Tell Me The Odds' for Tail 2," wrote Limp. "One of our key mission objectives will be to land and recover the booster. This will take a little bit of luck and a lot of excellent execution."
Getting New Glenn operational will bring Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin into the orbital payload marketplace, which is currently dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX. If Blue Origin can achieve reusability with the rocket's booster, that would bring launch costs down drastically.
Like SpaceX, Blue Origin will land the booster on a sea faring vessel; Blue Origin's ship is named Jacklyn for Bezos' mother.
To date, SpaceX is the only company which has successfully demonstrated reusability in a multiple stage rocket; its Falcon 9 boosters land on a regular basis. Blue Origin has successfully landed its single stage suborbital New Shepard rocket, which launches paying customers out of Texas, but was not so fortunate with the January attempt of the multiple-stage New Glenn out of Florida.
When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, Axiom, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral
Back in January, the 321-foot-tall New Glenn rocket barreled off Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36. While the upper stage successfully sent the payload to orbit, the company had high hopes of landing the booster on Jacklyn. Instead, Jacklyn sailed back to Port Canaveral empty.
That lost booster? It was named "So You're Telling Me There's a Chance." After the failed landing, Limp acknowledged it was an ambitious goal for the first launch. In fact, it took competitor SpaceX years to successfully land a Falcon 9 booster.
Once operational, New Glenn will be Blue Origin's workhorse rocket. Future payloads include the NASA EscaPADE mission to Mars. The rocket will also launch Amazon's Project Kuiper internet satellites, which are a competitor to SpaceX's Starlink.
The August launch announcement is timely. This coming Friday, June 13, will see the second launch of the Kuiper internet constellation atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Blue Origin's New Glenn to launch late summer, attempt booster landing
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