Blue Origin's New Glenn had its maiden launch on Thursday. The rocket rose off a pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. About 12.5 minutes later, the rocket's upper stage reportedly reached orbit -- the main goal of today's test flight, which the company called NG-1.
"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!"
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The booster managed to fire up three of its engines in a re-entry burn as planned, but it didn't stick the landing. "We didn't have booster landing, but man, we got close," Cornell added. "We collected so much data."
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is a heavy-lift, orbital launch vehicle designed for space exploration and commercial missions. Developed by the private space company founded by Jeff Bezos, New Glenn is named after astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.
The rocket is designed to be reusable, much like SpaceX's Falcon 9, with the first stage capable of landing and being reused for multiple launches, helping reduce costs for future missions.
New Glenn is expected to carry payloads to low Earth orbit (LEO), geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), and beyond. It can launch satellites, cargo, and crewed missions, playing a role in advancing space exploration, including NASA missions and commercial satellite deployments.
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The rocket features a powerful, large-diameter booster that can carry heavy payloads and is designed to compete with other rockets in the market, such as SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and United Launch Alliance's Atlas V.
The rocket is expected to have a height of around 95 meters, about 312 feet, and a payload capacity of over 45 metric tons to LEO. Blue Origin has been testing components of New Glenn and plans to launch the rocket for the first time in the near future, making it a significant player in the growing commercial space industry.