Blue Origin Launches Company's 98-meter New Glenn Rocket To Orbit On First Test Flight

"We got to orbit safely,” Ariane Cornell, vice president of in-space systems at Blue Origin, said in the company's launch webcast. "Congratulations, everybody. What a day! We didn't have booster landing, but man, we got close," Cornell said. "We collected so much data."

The company also tried to land New Glenn's reusable first stage on a droneship Jacklyn (named after Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos' mother) in the Atlantic Ocean. However the booster managed to fire up three of its engines in a reentry burn as planned, but it didn't stick the landing.

"We did it!  Orbital. Great night for Team Blue. On to spring and trying again on the landing," CEO Dave Limp wrote on X.

Blue Origin wrote on X, "New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during today's NG-1 mission, accomplishing our primary objective. The second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well."

The Blue Ring Pathfinder payload is permanently attached to the second stage and is designed to test its systems in space for the first time, with potential applications as a rideshare kick stage, dedicated satellite bus, or commercial space station.

NG-1 marks Blue Origin’s first National Security Space Launch (NSSL) certification flight. The mission aimed to test the Blue Ring Pathfinder payload, designed to evaluate the telemetry, communications, and control systems for the Blue Ring multi-mission space mobility platform. The successful launch marked a significant milestone for the company, as it demonstrated the rocket’s capabilities for future national security missions for the U.S. Space Force.

The New Glenn rocket’s planned orbit reaches as high as 19,300 kilometers and as low as 2,400 kilometers, with the second stage expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up over a remote area of the ocean.

Even with the failure of the first-stage booster's landing, the successful orbit of the second stage marks a significant milestone for Blue Origin and its New Glenn program.

"We lost the booster during descent. We knew landing the first stage on the first try was ambitious. We'll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch in the spring. We're thrilled with today's outcome," the company said.

"Today marks a new era for Blue Origin and for commercial space," said Jarrett Jones, Senior Vice President, New Glenn. "We're focused on ramping our launch cadence and manufacturing rates. My heartfelt thanks to everyone at Blue Origin for the tremendous amount of work in making today's success possible, and to our customers and the space community for their continuous support. We felt that immensely today."

The launch has been celebrated across the space industry, with congratulations from key figures like Elon Musk, Gwynne Shotwell, and Bill Nelson. This success positions Blue Origin alongside other leading U.S. private space companies like SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and Firefly Space, with experts suggesting that the U.S. now holds a significant lead in rocketry technology, with China being the only notable competitor.