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Blue Origin Lands New Glenn Rocket Booster at Sea in Historic First
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – November 13, 2024 – In a landmark achievement for private spaceflight, Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, successfully recovered the first stage booster of its New Glenn rocket following a launch from cape canaveral, Florida, on Thursday. The booster landed on a barge at sea in a controlled descent, mirroring a capability long demonstrated by competitor SpaceX.
The New Glenn rocket, standing nearly 100 meters tall, launched shortly before 4 p.m. local time (10 p.m. in Paris) carrying two NASA space probes for the ”Escapade” mission. This mission aims to study the climate of Mars in preparation for future human exploration.
Minutes after liftoff and stage separation, the first stage booster executed the complex landing maneuver. This success is expected to accelerate Blue Origin’s launch cadence and substantially reduce costs.
“This is a historic day for Blue Origin,” said Vice President Ariane Cornell in a video broadcast. Jared Isaacman, a friend of Elon Musk, lauded the achievement on X, stating, “Damn, that was great!” Even SpaceX’s head of Falcon rocket launches, Jon Edwards, acknowledged the difficulty of the feat, writing on X: “Recovering an orbital rocket is extremely difficult. Well done!”
The two probes, named Blue and Gold, will enter a “secure parking” orbit around Earth before embarking for Mars in 2027. They will then begin studying the red planet’s climate.
The launch is also notable in the context of the ongoing competition between Bezos and Musk, particularly surrounding NASA’s Artemis lunar program, which aims to return humans to the Moon. NASA recently considered alternatives to SpaceX due to progress delays.
