CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy-lift rocket successfully completed its second flight on November , marking a pivotal milestone with the deployment of a NASA science mission and a historic landing of its massive reusable booster.
The rocket’s seven BE-4 engines ignited at 3:55 p.m. EST, lifting off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission successfully deployed NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) twin spacecraft into their initial orbit.
The flight was capped by a landmark achievement: the fully reusable first stage completed a precise landing on the droneship Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean. “Never before in history has a booster this large nailed the landing on the second try,” said Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp. “This is just the beginning as we rapidly scale our flight cadence.”
The ESCAPADE spacecraft, built by Rocket Lab, will now await a late-2026 window to begin their journey to Mars. Once there, the twin probes will study how the solar wind strips away the Martian atmosphere, providing clues to how the planet evolved into a dry world.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy congratulated the teams, noting the mission’s dual importance. “This heliophysics mission will help reveal how Mars became a desert planet,” Duffy stated. “Every launch of New Glenn provides data that will be essential to protect future NASA explorers… as we evaluate how to deliver on President Trump’s vision of planting the Stars and Stripes on Mars.”
The mission also carried a successful demonstration for Viasat’s HaloNet, testing new telemetry relay services. The flight served as a key certification milestone for the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program.
With multiple vehicles in production and a full launch manifest, Blue Origin is now poised to accelerate its launch tempo. “Today was a tremendous achievement, opening a new era for Blue Origin and the industry as we look to launch, land, repeat, again and again,” said Jordan Charles, Vice President of New Glenn.
