Blue Origin Delays New Glenn Return to Flight to January, Unveils New Engine
US space company Blue Origin has pushed New Glenn's return to flight from December to January 2027 after a launch pad explosion in May. It also revealed its Northstar engine and a hydrogen-oxygen third stage.
Blue Origin, the US space company backed by Jeff Bezos, is delaying the return to flight of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket from December to January 2027. Bloomberg reports that Chief Executive Officer Dave Limp told employees of the new target on Wednesday. The rocket has not flown since May, when a destructive explosion hit its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Reconstruction of the pad continues.
NASA, Amazon and the US Space Force are waiting for New Glenn to resume service. After the return flight, the manifest includes a launch in the spring of the Blue Moon Mark 1 lander, an uncrewed precursor to the crewed lander the company is developing for NASA's Artemis missions.
New engine and third stage
On Thursday, Blue Origin also announced two upgrades. The Northstar engine will eventually replace the BE-4, which powers New Glenn's first stage. It has half as many parts and 30 percent less mass, about 65 percent of it can be 3D-printed, and it delivers more thrust. The company believes it can build the engine at 25 percent of the cost of a BE-4.
The second announcement is a hydrogen-oxygen third stage for high-energy missions. It will use a lightweight composite tank. Blue Origin recently completed its first composite liquid hydrogen tanking test in Texas, which gave engineers confidence to proceed with the design. With the upgrades, the company wants to expand New Glenn's ability to deliver payloads to geostationary orbit and the Moon.
