Blue Origin has delivered the New Glenn rocket to launch pad LC-36 at Cape Canaveral. Engineers will soon conduct a test firing, after which it will be prepared for launch.
Key features of New Glenn
Blue Origin began designing the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket back in 2012. It was named after astronaut John Glenn. In 1962, he became the first American to fly in orbit.
New Glenn has a two-stage design. It is 98 meters high and seven meters in diameter. The first stage of the rocket is equipped with seven BE-4 engines (the same power units are installed on the first stage of the Vulcan rocket). They use methane as fuel and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer. The second stage is equipped with two BE-3U engines running on a mixture of liquid hydrogen and oxygen.
The first stage of New Glenn is reusable. After separation, it will land on a barge in the ocean, similar to the first stage of Falcon 9. According to the designers, the stage can be used up to 25 times. New Glenn can deliver up to 45 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit and 13 tons to geostationary transfer orbit.
Second flight of New Glenn
The first flight of New Glenn took place in January 2025. The rocket successfully launched the Blue Ring satellite platform prototype into orbit. However, Blue Origin specialists were unable to solve the problem of returning its stage. It was lost shortly after entering the atmosphere.
The second chapter of New Glenn’s story begins tonight at LC-36. Our NG-2 launch vehicle has arrived at the pad for integrated vehicle hotfire. pic.twitter.com/CQeDlu8xB2
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) October 29, 2025
It is known that the task of successfully returning the stage is now key for Blue Origin. After the first flight, engineers made a number of changes to the rocket’s design. In October, a new copy of New Glenn arrived at Cape Canaveral. The rocket has already been delivered to the launch pad. Engineers will conduct a test firing in the near future. If it is successful, the rocket will then be prepared for launch.
As part of its second mission, New Glenn will send a pair of ESCAPADE probes into space. They will spend about a year in the vicinity of Lagrange point L2, after which they will head to Mars. You can find out more about the technical details and objectives of this mission in our article.
