{"id":379965,"date":"2025-11-15T04:59:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-15T04:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/379965\/"},"modified":"2025-11-15T04:59:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-15T04:59:12","slug":"blue-origin-planning-next-new-glenn-flight-for-early-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/379965\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin planning next New Glenn flight for early next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 After a successful second flight of New Glenn, including the first landing of the booster, Blue Origin is looking to perform its next launch early next year, possibly with the same booster.<\/p>\n

In an interview a day after the Nov. 13 NG-2 launch of New Glenn<\/a>, Blue Origin Chief Executive Dave Limp said that while data reviews have only just started, the vehicle appeared to perform exactly as expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the surface, it looks like a very nominal mission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The NG-2 launch successfully deployed NASA\u2019s ESCAPADE mission, a pair smallsats that will head to Mars after spending a year in the vicinity of the Earth-sun L2 point. The upper stage also included a hosted payload from Viasat to test the ability to relay launch vehicle telemetry.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the mission, though, was the landing of the first stage on the company\u2019s ship, Jacklyn, in the Atlantic a little more than nine minutes after liftoff. The stage descended to a point near the ship, then shifted over directly above the ship before landing.<\/p>\n

That maneuver, company founder Jeff Bezos said on social media was designed, to protect the ship and \u201cavoid a severe impact if engines fail to start or start slowly.\u201d That offset, initially on the order of a hundred meters, will be decreased over time.<\/p>\n

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Good overview of the landing. We nominally target a few hundred feet away from Jacklyn to avoid a severe impact if engines fail to start or start slowly. We\u2019ll incrementally reduce that conservatism over time. We are all excited and grateful for yesterday. Amazing performance by\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/DCEMsuSyPm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) November 14, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The company had named the booster \u201cNever Tell Me The Odds\u201d but Limp said going into the flight he was optimistic the booster would land on the ship. \u201cWe had very good data and understanding of what needed to be done after the first flight,\u201d he said, when the engines failed to relight for a reentry burn.<\/p>\n

Monte Carlo simulations \u201csuggested we had a pretty good chance of landing. Not 100%, but it was much better than the first flight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The company still has to inspect the booster and determine how much refurbishment is needed for its next launch. The same booster could be used for the next New Glenn flight, although Limp said the company is still weighing using a new booster.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of a toss up, because the third booster is pretty far along in manufacturing,\u201d he said. While New Glenn boosters are ultimately designed to be turned around in two to three weeks, this booster will take longer since it is the first to be refurbished.<\/p>\n

Blue Origin expects the next flight of New Glenn to carry its Blue Moon Mark 1 uncrewed lunar lander. That lander is finishing development and will soon be shipped to the Johnson Space Center for thermal vacuum testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAssuming that stays on the schedule that we\u2019re on right now, I think it\u2019s likely our third mission\u201d for New Glenn, he said. If Blue Moon\u2019s schedule did slip, he said the company might fly another payload on the next New Glenn and move the lander to the fourth launch.<\/p>\n

Limp said Blue Origin was targeting \u201cvery early in the new year\u201d for the next New Glenn launch. The company has not yet determined how many New Glenn launches it will put on the manifest for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be very hardware rich next year,\u201d he said, including being able to produce 20 second stages a year. \u201cThe question is, can we get to an operational cadence? And to me, that\u2019s the next step that we\u2019re going to have to sit down with the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is, he noted, no shortage of demand for New Glenn in a launch-constrained market. \u201cMy phone has been fairly busy in the last 24 hours with customers coming out of the woodwork, which is a good problem to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the customers for New Glenn is the U.S. Space Force, which is in the process of certifying the vehicle for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions. In a statement after the NG-2 launch, the Space Force\u2019s Space Systems Command said it was continuing the certification process but didn\u2019t disclose details about the status of the process.<\/p>\n

Depending on the amount of government oversight, certification can take between 2 and 14 launches, Space Systems Command noted. Limp did not disclose which option Blue Origin was pursing but said that the two New Glenn launches now in the books will not be sufficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will definitely have to fly again to get certification. Plus, there are just a lot of other things. There is paperwork involved,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s all on track.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artemis plans<\/p>\n

Limp also discussed in the interview the company\u2019s work to develop a faster approach to returning humans to the moon. NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said Oct. 20 he would \u201copen up\u201d SpaceX\u2019s existing contract to land humans on the moon on Artemis 3<\/a> and directed both SpaceX and Blue Origin to develop \u201cacceleration approaches\u201d for their existing landing contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked us, \u2018Can you get to the moon faster?\u2019\u201d he said of NASA\u2019s request. \u201cMy answer is, if the country wants it, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said Blue Origin submitted a concept that would get people back to the moon faster than the company\u2019s current work on the Blue Moon Mark 2 lander, slated to make its first flight on Artemis 5 under a Human Landing System (HLS) contract. He added the NASA contract for Blue Moon Mark 2 calls for it to be ready in 2028 and that \u201cwe are on track to have our architectural pieces done for 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that we have a simplified architecture that closes. We believe we can do it very quickly,\u201d he said of the new approach. \u201cThe reason we can do it very quickly is that it uses the pieces and parts that we\u2019re already working on, but with simpler conops and a simplified mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t go into details about that approach but said the company submitted a first draft of its approach to NASA and plans to provide a final version in about a week.<\/p>\n

Limp said that, even with the push for an accelerated return, the company is still interested in more sustained architectures for a long-term presence on the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are strong believers that the NASA should not get rid of the HLS contracts, because we do want sustainability,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I also believe we want boots on the moon as quickly as possible. I think that\u2019s important from a national prestige perspective, and there\u2019ll be some science, and it\u2019ll get our muscle back. It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve been to the moon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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