Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has made its debut launch, marking a significant milestone for the company in the space industry
At 2:03 a.m. Eastern Time, it blasted off, leaving a trail of fire and steam behind. Blue Origin shared the excitement on social media, announcing, “LIFTOFF! New Glenn is beginning its first ever ascent toward the stars.”
This launch is a huge step for Blue Origin, putting them in the same league as SpaceX and NASA. They’re aiming for ambitious goals, like sending humans to Mars and building science stations on the moon.
But first, they need to get their business in shape. This launch is crucial for them to start flying payloads to orbit and compete with SpaceX.
They had some delays leading up to this launch, but it finally happened. However, they did lose the booster after it separated, which was supposed to land back on Earth. SpaceX is still the only company that has successfully reused rocket boosters.
Blue Origin is working hard to catch up. Jeff Bezos has even said that the company isn’t quite where it needs to be yet, but he believes it will be the best business he’s ever been involved in.
New Glenn is their second rocket, and it’s designed to reach Earth’s orbit. They started building it back in 2016, and Bezos wants them to speed things up.
For context, SpaceX started working on their Falcon 9 rocket in 2005 and launched it in 2010. New Glenn is more powerful, though, being three times stronger than the Falcon 9.
As for the mission, New Glenn is carrying a test payload called Blue Ring, which is meant for various tasks in space. It’s a test run, so they won’t deploy it just yet.
The FAA has given Blue Origin a five-year license to launch from Cape Canaveral, and they have some big customers lined up, including NASA and Amazon. Exciting times ahead!
