Blue Origin will attempt its first launch with a reused New Glenn booster, a key step to lower costs and compete with SpaceX in the commercial space race
CAPE CANAVERAL: Blue Origin is set to launch its massive New Glenn rocket using a reused booster for the first time on Sunday.
The launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral is scheduled between 6:45 am and 8:45 am local time, carrying a communications satellite for AST SpaceMobile.
This novel approach marks a significant step for Jeff Bezos’s space company amid fierce competition with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. A successful mission could lower the cost and increase the pace of future Blue Origin launches.
The nearly 100-meter-tall New Glenn has launched twice before, but only with new rocket boosters. The company has previously reused components on its smaller New Shepard suborbital tourism rocket.
Blue Origin successfully recovered a New Glenn booster for the first time in November. That complex operation culminated in a controlled vertical landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean.
A previous recovery attempt in January 2025 failed after the booster’s engines did not reignite during descent. The booster for Sunday’s launch was refurbished after its previous flight.
For this first reuse, the company replaced all of the booster’s engines and made several other modifications. After liftoff, the rocket’s two stages will separate at altitude.
The upper stage will continue carrying the satellite into space, while the booster will descend and attempt another landing on a barge. The operation’s performance will be closely watched.
The New Glenn is central to Bezos’s space ambitions, notably competing with Musk in NASA’s Artemis lunar program. Both companies are developing lunar landers for the US space agency.
The United States is intensifying efforts to return astronauts to the Moon’s surface in 2028. This deadline falls before the end of President Donald Trump’s term and matches one set by Chinese rivals.
