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New Glenn AI simulator
(@New Glenn_simulator)
Hub AI
New Glenn AI simulator
(@New Glenn_simulator)
New Glenn
New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed and operated by the American company Blue Origin. The rocket is designed to have a partially reusable, two-stage design with a diameter of 7 meters (23 ft). The first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines, while the second stage relies on two BE-3U engines, all designed and built in-house by Blue Origin. It launches from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36, with future missions planned from Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 9.
Development of New Glenn began prior to 2013 and was officially announced in 2016. The rocket is named in honor of NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. The inaugural vehicle was unveiled on the launch pad in February 2024. Its maiden flight took place on January 16, 2025, carrying a prototype Blue Ring spacecraft, marking the first launch from LC-36 since NROL-23 in 2005. This mission served as the first of several demonstration launches required to be certified for use by the National Security Space Launch program.
Similar to Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital rocket, used for space tourism, the New Glenn's first stage is designed to be reusable and land on a barge called Landing Platform Vessel 1. New Glenn has not yet achieved a booster landing. In 2021, the company launched Project Jarvis, an initiative aimed at making the second stage reusable as well, but this had been shelved by 2025.
After initiating the development of an orbital rocket system prior to 2012, and stating in 2013 on their website that the first stage would do a powered vertical landing and be reusable, Blue Origin publicly announced their orbital launch vehicle intentions in September 2015. In January 2016, Blue Origin indicated that the new rocket would be many times larger than New Shepard even though it would be the smallest of the family of Blue Origin orbital vehicles. Blue Origin publicly released the high-level design of the vehicle and announced the name New Glenn—with both two-stage and three-stage variants planned—in September 2016.
Blue Origin began developing systems for orbital human spacecraft before 2012. A reusable first-stage booster was designed to fly a suborbital trajectory, taking off vertically like the booster stage of a conventional multistage launch vehicle. After stage separation, the upper stage would continue to propel astronauts into orbit, while the first-stage booster would descend to perform a powered vertical landing, similar to its New Shepard suborbital vehicle. From the earliest design concepts, the first-stage booster was intended to be refueled and relaunched to reduce the costs of access to space for humans.
The booster launch vehicle was projected to lift Blue Origin's biconic Space Vehicle capsule to orbit, carrying astronauts and supplies. After completing its mission in orbit, the Space Vehicle was also conceptually designed to reenter Earth's atmosphere and land under parachutes on land, to be reused on future missions.
Engine testing for the (then-named) Reusable Booster System (RBS) launch vehicle began in 2012. A full-power test of the thrust chamber for Blue Origin BE-3 liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen upper-stage rocket engine (BE-3U) was conducted on a stand at the John C. Stennis Space Center (NASA test facility) in October 2012. The chamber successfully achieved full thrust of 100,000 lbf (about 440 kN). By early 2018, it was announced that the BE-3U hydrolox engine would power the second stage of the New Glenn.
Design work on the vehicle began in 2012, with the beginning of BE-4 engine development. Further plans for an orbital launch vehicle were made public in 2015. In mid-2016, the launch vehicle was briefly referred to publicly by the placeholder name of "Very Big Brother". It was stated to be a two-stage-to-orbit liquid-propellant rocket, with the launcher intended to be reusable. In early 2016, Blue Origin indicated that the first orbital launch was expected no earlier than 2020 from the Florida launch facility, and in September 2017 continued to forecast a 2020 debut. In a February 2016 interview, Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson referred to engine development and orbital launch vehicle milestones.
New Glenn
New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed and operated by the American company Blue Origin. The rocket is designed to have a partially reusable, two-stage design with a diameter of 7 meters (23 ft). The first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines, while the second stage relies on two BE-3U engines, all designed and built in-house by Blue Origin. It launches from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36, with future missions planned from Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 9.
Development of New Glenn began prior to 2013 and was officially announced in 2016. The rocket is named in honor of NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. The inaugural vehicle was unveiled on the launch pad in February 2024. Its maiden flight took place on January 16, 2025, carrying a prototype Blue Ring spacecraft, marking the first launch from LC-36 since NROL-23 in 2005. This mission served as the first of several demonstration launches required to be certified for use by the National Security Space Launch program.
Similar to Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital rocket, used for space tourism, the New Glenn's first stage is designed to be reusable and land on a barge called Landing Platform Vessel 1. New Glenn has not yet achieved a booster landing. In 2021, the company launched Project Jarvis, an initiative aimed at making the second stage reusable as well, but this had been shelved by 2025.
After initiating the development of an orbital rocket system prior to 2012, and stating in 2013 on their website that the first stage would do a powered vertical landing and be reusable, Blue Origin publicly announced their orbital launch vehicle intentions in September 2015. In January 2016, Blue Origin indicated that the new rocket would be many times larger than New Shepard even though it would be the smallest of the family of Blue Origin orbital vehicles. Blue Origin publicly released the high-level design of the vehicle and announced the name New Glenn—with both two-stage and three-stage variants planned—in September 2016.
Blue Origin began developing systems for orbital human spacecraft before 2012. A reusable first-stage booster was designed to fly a suborbital trajectory, taking off vertically like the booster stage of a conventional multistage launch vehicle. After stage separation, the upper stage would continue to propel astronauts into orbit, while the first-stage booster would descend to perform a powered vertical landing, similar to its New Shepard suborbital vehicle. From the earliest design concepts, the first-stage booster was intended to be refueled and relaunched to reduce the costs of access to space for humans.
The booster launch vehicle was projected to lift Blue Origin's biconic Space Vehicle capsule to orbit, carrying astronauts and supplies. After completing its mission in orbit, the Space Vehicle was also conceptually designed to reenter Earth's atmosphere and land under parachutes on land, to be reused on future missions.
Engine testing for the (then-named) Reusable Booster System (RBS) launch vehicle began in 2012. A full-power test of the thrust chamber for Blue Origin BE-3 liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen upper-stage rocket engine (BE-3U) was conducted on a stand at the John C. Stennis Space Center (NASA test facility) in October 2012. The chamber successfully achieved full thrust of 100,000 lbf (about 440 kN). By early 2018, it was announced that the BE-3U hydrolox engine would power the second stage of the New Glenn.
Design work on the vehicle began in 2012, with the beginning of BE-4 engine development. Further plans for an orbital launch vehicle were made public in 2015. In mid-2016, the launch vehicle was briefly referred to publicly by the placeholder name of "Very Big Brother". It was stated to be a two-stage-to-orbit liquid-propellant rocket, with the launcher intended to be reusable. In early 2016, Blue Origin indicated that the first orbital launch was expected no earlier than 2020 from the Florida launch facility, and in September 2017 continued to forecast a 2020 debut. In a February 2016 interview, Blue Origin president Rob Meyerson referred to engine development and orbital launch vehicle milestones.
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