Blue Origin's New Glenn Rockets Into Orbit, Faces Hiccup With Booster Landing

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully reached Earth's orbit on thursday during its first mission, marking a significant milestone for Jeff Bezos' space company. The 30-story-tall rocket, designed to compete with SpaceX in the satellite launch industry, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at around 2 a.m. ET. This mission represents a decade-long development journey and is a major achievement for Blue Origin, as it aims to rival SpaceX in the satellite launch market.

The launch was a key moment for the company, with the second stage reaching orbit successfully, a goal Blue Origin had set for its first attempt. "We hit our key, critical, number-one objective, we got to orbit safely," said Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's VP, during a live stream.

However, the mission experienced a hiccup as the rocket's reusable first-stage booster, which was supposed to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, failed to make the landing. Telemetry from the booster was lost minutes after liftoff, and Cornell confirmed the failure, stating, "We did in fact lose the booster."

Despite the booster mishap, the successful orbit achievement is a major win for Blue Origin. The New Glenn rocket has a significant backlog of missions, including satellite launches for Amazon's Kuiper internet network, which will compete with SpaceX's Starlink service.

New Glenn is more powerful than SpaceX's Falcon 9, with a payload bay twice as large, allowing it to carry larger satellite batches. However, Blue Origin has yet to disclose pricing details for the rocket, with Falcon 9's starting price around $62 million.

This launch follows years of development and delays at Blue Origin as it works to compete with SpaceX and other private companies in the space race. With New Glenn, Blue Origin aims to capture a share of the growing space launch industry.
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SIBY JEYYA

16/01/2025 04:46 PM