Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin’s New Glenn reusable rocket reaching orbit on its maiden flight is a significant achievement that will allow the company to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the launch industry.
With contracts already signed with the U.S. Space Force, Eutelsat, mu Space, SKY Perfect JSAT and Telesat, New Glenn is expected to become a mainstay of the heavy-lift market in the expanding commercial space sector, poised to launch large geosynchronous satellites and satellite constellations, including Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite broadband constellation.
Amazon’s proposed Project Kuiper plans over 3,000 satellites and will go head-to-head with SpaceX’s Starlink.
Confirmed New Glenn missions for NASA in the future include carrying Blue Origin’s now-in-development Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander and the Blue Moon Mark 2 crewed lander to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
Blue Origin, established in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, operates solely on the billionaire’s funding. It’s estimated he has invested around $8 billion of his wealth into the venture. A crucial aspect of Blue Origin’s strategy involves securing government contracts, which have been vital for financing the development of New Glenn.
Blue Origin New Glenn Vs. SpaceX Falcon Rockets
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is only the third reusable rocket in the orbital space business, after SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
New Glenn stands more than 320 feet (98 meters) tall and powered by its BE-4 engines, which use liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas engine. That makes it taller than Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy’s 229 feet but shorter than SpaceX’s Starship’s 395 feet and NASA’s Space Launch System’s 322 feet.
Blue Origin New Glenn Vs. New Shepherd
New Glenn is named in honor of NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth on Feb. 20, 1962, in the Friendship 7 spacecraft.
Blue Origin has launched its New Shepard rocket—a reusable sub-orbital rocket used for space tourism—27 times. It’s named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Jeff Bezos flew in New Shepard on July 20, 2021, crossing the Kármán line, the dividing line between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
New Shepherd is not powerful enough to make it to orbit.
Blue Origin’s Blue Moon
In May 2024, NASA awarded a $3.4 billion contract to build a lander to take astronauts to the surface of the moon during its Artemis V mission to Blue Origin, which heads a consortium that also includes Lockheed Martin, Draper, Boeing, Astrobotic and Honeybee Robotics.
The Artemis V mission, currently scheduled for 2029, will have two astronauts descend to the lunar surface from NASA’s upcoming Lunar Gateway, a moon-orbiting space station. The contract also includes a cislunar transporter and one uncrewed lunar landing demonstration.
Blue Origin may have the Artemis V moon landing, but the first moon landing since 1972—recently delayed to at least mid-2027— will be using SpaceX hardware. Elon Musk’s company won contracts in 2021 and 2022 to develop a Starship human landing system—a lunar lander modeled on its Starship spaceship—for NASA’s Artemis III and IV missions.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
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