Blue Origin achieves booster reuse but faces upper-stage issue on New Glenn flight

Blue Origin achieved its first successful reflight of an orbital-class rocket booster on Sunday but encountered an upper-stage issue that compromised the mission's primary objective. The company's New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:25 a.m. EDT. The 321-foot-tall rocket, powered by seven methane-fueled BE-4 engines, accelerated past the speed of sound within approximately 90 seconds. Approximately three minutes into flight, the first stage separated and began its return trajectory. The booster, named Never Tell Me The Odds, executed two braking burns before landing on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean about 400 miles southeast of the launch site. This marked the second flight for this particular booster, which previously launched and was recovered in November. Blue Origin has extensive experience reusing its smaller New Shepard suborbital vehicles, but New Glenn represents a significant advancement in scale and complexity. Despite the successful booster recovery, the mission experienced problems with the upper stage. The incident represents a setback for Blue Origin as it seeks to establish New Glenn as a competitor in the commercial launch market and a key component of NASA's Artemis lunar program. Company CEO Dave Limp stated that while new engines were installed for this flight, Blue Origin plans to reuse engines from the November launch on future missions. The company aims to increase launch frequency through booster reusability, following the precedent set by SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rocket.