Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos, has achieved a significant milestone in the development of its powerful New Glenn rocket. The company announced on Monday that it has successfully mated the two stages of the rocket for the first time at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
This achievement marks an important step forward for Blue Origin as it prepares for its first launch later this year. By mating the stages of the New Glenn rocket, the company will be able to test its tooling and stage interfaces, ensuring that everything is in working order before the inaugural launch.
The first stage of the New Glenn rocket was transported from Blue Origin’s factory on Florida’s Space Coast to LC-36 approximately two weeks ago. This stage, along with the second stage, has now been successfully joined together, as shown in a photo shared by Blue Origin on X.
The New Glenn rocket is an impressive feat of engineering, standing at a towering height of 322 feet (98 meters). It will have a payload capacity of 50 tons (45 metric tons) to low Earth orbit, which is twice the capacity of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Similar to the Falcon 9, the first stage of the New Glenn rocket is designed to be reusable, further enhancing its cost-effectiveness and sustainability.
Powering the New Glenn rocket will be seven of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines. These engines recently made their debut on United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket, which had a successful first flight earlier this month. However, the payload of that mission, Astrobotic’s Peregrine moon lander, encountered issues in deep space and ultimately crashed back to Earth.
The development of the New Glenn rocket has been a long process, spanning over a decade. Originally slated for a 2020 debut, the timeline has been pushed back multiple times. However, Blue Origin is now on track for the first flight of the New Glenn rocket, scheduled for August of this year.
The inaugural launch of the New Glenn rocket will carry NASA’s EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) Mars mission. This mission aims to study the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with the solar wind. With liftoff just a few months away, Blue Origin is entering an exciting phase in its journey towards revolutionizing space exploration.
Blue Origin’s progress with the New Glenn rocket is a testament to the company’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of space technology. By successfully mating the stages of the rocket, Blue Origin is one step closer to realizing its vision of making space more accessible and sustainable. As the company continues to innovate and overcome challenges, the future of space exploration looks brighter than ever.