Blue Origin Successfully Re-uses A New Glenn Rocket For The First Time Ever

Blue Origin has successfully reused 1 of its New Glenn rockets for nan first clip ever, marking a awesome milestone for nan heavy-launch strategy arsenic Jeff Bezos’ abstraction institution looks to compete pinch Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The institution accomplished nan feat Sunday connected conscionable nan third-ever motorboat of New Glenn, and a small much than one twelvemonth after nan first formation of nan caller rocket system, which has been successful improvement for much than a decade.

Making New Glenn reusable is important to nan economics of New Glenn. SpaceX’s expertise to re-fly Falcon 9 rocket boosters is 1 of nan main reasons why it has travel to predominate nan world orbital motorboat market.

While Blue Origin has already sent commercialized payloads to abstraction pinch New Glenn — Sunday was nan second-such ngo to transportation a customer outer — nan institution wants to usage nan rocket for NASA satellite missions, and to thief some it and Amazon build space-based outer networks.

The booster that Blue Origin re-flew connected Sunday was nan same 1 nan institution utilized successful nan 2nd New Glenn mission successful November. During that mission, nan New Glenn booster helped put 2 robotic NASA spacecraft into abstraction for a ngo to Mars, earlier returning to a drone vessel successful nan ocean. On Sunday, Blue Origin recovered nan rocket booster a 2nd clip connected a drone vessel astir 10 minutes aft takeoff.

Sunday’s superior ngo was to nonstop a communications outer into abstraction for customer AST SpaceMobile. The New Glenn precocious shape was still carrying nan outer to its circumstantial orbit astatine nan clip this communicative is published, and TechCrunch will update nan station arsenic nan ngo progresses.