Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully launched a pair of Mars-bound spacecraft today, representing the second flight of the company’s New Glenn heavy-lift rocket. The mission also marked a significant milestone with the first successful recovery of a New Glenn
first-stage booster.
The flawless deployment of NASA’s Escapade spacecraft, combined with the historic booster recovery, strengthened Blue Origin’s position as a legitimate rival to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which currently dominates the commercial space sector. SpaceX remains the only other company to have successfully recovered an orbital-class rocket booster.
Musk acknowledged the accomplishment on X/Twitter, congratulating Bezos and the Blue Origin team on their success.
Named after astronaut John Glenn, America’s first orbital space traveler, the New Glenn rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 3:55 p.m. Eastern Time. The launch came after earlier attempts this week were cancelled, first because of weather conditions on Earth, then due to space weather concerns related to solar activity.
Launch day itself wasn’t without challenges, as the countdown experienced multiple holds for undisclosed reasons before ultimately proceeding successfully.
Following liftoff, the rocket’s first stage executed a return flight to an ocean-based landing platform named Jacklyn, honoring Bezos’ late mother. While Blue Origin’s January attempt to recover a New Glenn booster ended unsuccessfully, today’s landing was perfect.
Blue Origin team members erupted in celebration as the booster touched down, including Bezos at Mission Control and staff gathered at the company’s Kent, Washington headquarters. The booster’s nickname, “Never Tell Me the Odds,” reflected the uncertainty surrounding the recovery attempt.
Ariane Cornell, who serves as vice president of New Glenn strategy and business operations and provided launch commentary, praised the team’s achievement. Her co-host Tabitha Lipkin expressed similar excitement about the historic day for Blue Origin and the space industry.
The upper stage continued its journey, deploying two robotic spacecraft for NASA’s Escapade mission approximately thirty minutes after launch. The $78.5 million mission’s name stands for “ESCApe and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers.”
The spacecraft pair will follow a complex trajectory including an Earth flyby scheduled for next year. This maneuver will provide additional velocity to place the probes into Mars orbit in 2027. Once positioned in coordinated orbits, the spacecraft will conduct synchronized observations to create three-dimensional maps of the Martian magnetic field, upper atmosphere and ionosphere. Scientific operations are planned through 2029.
According to mission scientists, Escapade will provide valuable data for planning future human Mars missions.
Principal investigator Robert Lillis from the University of California at Berkeley explained that understanding ionospheric variations will be crucial for communication and navigation systems needed on Mars. The mission could also help address radiation hazards associated with Mars exploration.
From a planetary science perspective, Escapade aims to illuminate how Mars lost most of its atmosphere over billions of years. Lillis noted that understanding solar wind-driven atmospheric escape represents a critical piece in reconstructing Mars’ climate history.
NASA assigned UC-Berkeley to manage probe operations, naming them Blue and Gold after the university’s colors. Rocket Lab USA manufactured the spacecraft, and Blue Origin secured the launch contract in 2023, two years before New Glenn’s maiden flight.
Originally scheduled for launch a year ago, Escapade was delayed by NASA over concerns about potential costs from launch postponements that could arise from various factors, including the possibility that Blue Origin’s rocket might not be ready. Further delays occurred as Blue Origin incorporated lessons from January’s inaugural New Glenn flight.
Beyond the Escapade probes, New Glenn also carried demonstration equipment for ViaSat’s HaloNet telemetry relay service. The HaloNet test supported a program designed to transition space communications from NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system to commercial alternatives.
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp announced full mission success in a post-launch statement, expressing pride in the team’s performance.
Limp highlighted the unprecedented achievement of successfully landing such a large booster on only the second attempt, calling it just the beginning as the company scales up launch operations.
New Glenn can deliver up to forty-five metric tons to low Earth orbit, with reduced capacity for destinations beyond. This capability exceeds SpaceX’s Falcon 9 (twenty-three metric tons to LEO) but falls short of Falcon Heavy (sixty-four metric tons) or Starship (one hundred to one hundred fifty metric tons). Starship remains under development, with a modified version scheduled to transport NASA astronauts to the lunar surface in 2027-2028.
Jon Edwards, SpaceX’s vice president of Falcon launch vehicles, congratulated Blue Origin, noting that recovering orbital-class rockets is exceptionally difficult and representing a source of national pride.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy also offered congratulations, noting the mission’s importance for understanding Mars’ transformation into a desert planet and solar eruption effects on the Martian surface. He emphasized how data from New Glenn launches will prove essential for future Artemis missions and efforts to achieve President Trump’s vision of reaching Mars.
Within the coming months, Blue Origin plans to use New Glenn for launching an uncrewed Blue Moon MK-1 lander to the moon’s south polar region. Following today’s successful ocean recovery, the “Never Tell Me the Odds” booster could potentially be refurbished and reused for that lunar mission.