Errant upper stage spoils Blue Origin’s success in reusing New Glenn booster

Blue Origin's ambitious New Glenn heavy-lift rocket embarked on its third flight on Sunday, marking a significant achievement with the successful reflight of an orbital-class booster. However, the mission encountered a challenge regarding the rocket's upper stage, which is integral to NASA’s Artemis lunar program. At 7:25 AM EDT (11:25 UTC), the 321-foot-tall (98-meter) New Glenn rocket roared to life, igniting its seven methane-fueled BE-4 engines. It began its ascent from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, quickly accelerating past the speed of sound within approximately ninety seconds. Three minutes after launch, the booster detached from the upper stage, which was powered by two BE-3U engines using liquid hydrogen and oxygen. After a brief journey into space, the first stage of New Glenn executed a controlled descent, aiming for Blue Origin's landing platform located nearly 400 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral. The booster successfully reignited its engines for two braking maneuvers, resulting in a smoky but accurate landing less than ten minutes post-launch. This successful touchdown concluded the second flight for the booster, aptly named "Never Tell Me The Odds," which had previously launched and landed successfully during the New Glenn mission in November. Blue Origin, founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has previously demonstrated its ability to land and reuse its smaller New Shepard suborbital booster multiple times. However, the New Glenn represents a significant leap in complexity and scale, as it is designed for higher altitudes and faster speeds, standing three times taller than the New Shepard. This advancement positions Blue Origin to tap into a wider market for launches to low-Earth orbit and beyond. In contrast, SpaceX has showcased its capability to recycle Falcon 9 boosters for reflight in only nine days, launching multiple times a week with a fleet of reusable boosters and multiple active launch pads. Blue Origin's officials believe that reusing the New Glenn boosters will pave the way for a significantly accelerated launch rate in the future.