&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Blue Origin nails New Glenn launch, sends NASA’s Mars mission on its way")
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin on Thursday (Nov 13) launched its New Glenn rocket, pulling off a stellar launch from Cape Canaveral. After days of waiting on shifting weather both above Florida and out in space, the company sent its New Glenn rocket into the sky with a pair of NASA spacecraft bound for Mars. What's more, a few minutes after the launch, it also achieved the landing of its booster, prompting the audience at Cape Canaveral to erupt into applause. Until now, only SpaceX had managed to bring back an orbital class booster in one piece.
Blue Origin vs SpaceX
Blue Origin's success comes as the company faces off Musk's SpaceX in an intensified rivalry, with the US space agency NASA recently opening up bids for its planned Moon mission.
This was New Glenn’s second flight. The first reached orbit, but the booster was lost on descent. Thursday fixed that. A working reusable stage means lower costs and more frequent launches, something Blue Origin has been chasing for years.
A road paved with failures
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The road to launch was messy, reports AFP. Earlier on Sunday, the company attempted the launch, but the attempt fell apart because of bad weather. Before that, Wednesday's try was pushed back again thanks to a spike in solar activity that NASA feared might fry its instruments. Even on Thursday, a few unexplained glitches forced Blue Origin to hit pause more than once. But at 3:55 pm, the rocket lifted off in a clean arc and the mission was finally on its way.
The 322-foot rocket now carries NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, twin spacecraft called Blue and Gold. Joseph Westlake, one of NASA’s heliophysicists, explained during the webcast that the pair will first find a "benign, safe parking orbit" and settle near Earth to gather space weather data. Then, when Earth and Mars line up just right in late 2026, they will sling themselves toward the Red Planet and arrive the following year. If missions like this work as planned, NASA could launch more Mars probes outside the usual tight alignment window that appears once every couple of years.
