Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket infographic
Graphic shows specifications of the New Glenn rocket, mission profile and how the landing system will work.
GN46674EN

SPACE

Blue Origin reusable rocket to launch

By Jordi Bou

January 16, 2025 - Blue Origin, the aerospace company of billionaire Jeff Bezos, aims to launch its first New Glenn heavy-lift rocket in an attempt to compete with SpaceX in the satellite launch market.

Blue Origin will try again to launch the rocket on Jan 16 after calling off the debut launch because of ice buildup in critical plumbing.

First announced in 2016, the New Glenn rocket is meant to shuttle cargo, satellites, and, in the future, people into space. The rocket is named after John Glenn, the first NASA astronaut to enter the Earth’s orbit.

New Glenn’s first stage is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s powerful BE-4 engines, which run on liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen.

Blue Origin aims to reuse New Glenn’s first stage for at least 25 missions, as it’s designed to touch down vertically on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean following launch, allowing the company to retrieve it.

The rocket’s upper stage is disposable and carries Blue Origin’s payload. It’s capable of sending 45 metric tonnes to low Earth orbit. That is still less than the 150 tonnes a Starship will manage, but more than the 23 tonnes of SpaceX’s current workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9.

New Glenn is also key to Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet initiative, rivalling SpaceX’s Starlink.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 14/01/2025; STORY: Graphic News
Advertisement