Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Hits Milestone with Second-Stage Hot Fire Test

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket achieved a significant milestone this week, successfully completing its first second-stage hot fire test. This crucial test validated the interactions between the rocket’s subsystems, its two BE-3U engines, and the ground control systems. The test, which lasted for 15 seconds, provided the launch operations team with valuable practice in preparation for New Glenn’s planned November launch.

New Glenn is Blue Origin’s ambitious answer to SpaceX in the realm of launching payloads into space. However, Jeff Bezos’ company has proceeded more cautiously, focusing initially on suborbital tourist flights with its New Shepard rocket. While New Glenn was initially scheduled to launch the smallsat ESCAPADE mission with NASA this year, that mission has been recently canceled.

Now, New Glenn’s inaugural mission (NG-1) will be dedicated to carrying Blue Origin’s newly developed Blue Ring orbital platform into space. The company plans to launch this mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this November.