The race to the Moon is back on with the successful launch of Jeff Bezos’ New Glenn rocket

This is a major milestone in the space adventure, and especially for the private company Blue Origin, founded in 2002 by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.

After two postponements, on Thursday, November 13th at 9:55 PM French time, the New Glen rocket launched from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air and Space Force Station, a site that Blue Origin rebuilt for one billion dollars.

During this flight, Blue Origin successfully brought the first stage of its rocket back to Earth, or rather onto a barge.

After SpaceX, Blue Origin became the second company to achieve this feat.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXysNxbGdCg&t=2s

The Context

Given the existing tension within NASA, worried that its Artemis program might be outmaneuvered by China and SpaceX’s Starship HLS, which is far from operational, there’s no doubt that agency officials closely examined Blue Origin’s capabilities, and they weren’t disappointed.

And in particular, the future head of NASA, Jared Isaacman, who will indeed have to wait a while longer for his Senate confirmation hearing.

It is in this context, exacerbated by the 43-day government shutdown that has just ended, that for the second time since its maiden flight in January 2025, Blue Origin launched its giant New Glenn rocket this Thursday, November 13, from Florida’s famous Space Coast, this time as part of a NASA mission to Mars.

The New Glenn Rocket

Named in honor of NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is a powerful, two-stage, heavy-lift launch vehicle.

The rocket, which has two stages, is 322 feet tall (SpaceX’s Starship is about 400 feet taller), including a payload fairing for transporting cargo into orbit, which, according to Blue Origin, « can accommodate larger constellations and bigger payloads. »

New Glenn is designed to be reusable, with its first stage planned for at least 25 flights…

This first stage of the rocket, 57 meters tall and carrying 1,150 tons of propellant, is powered by seven Blue Origin BE-4 engines, while the upper stage, 26.8 meters tall and carrying 175 tons of propellant, which operates in orbit, is powered by two Blue Origin BE-3U engines, also designed for the vacuum of space.

The rocket’s fairing has a diameter of seven meters, significantly larger than that of operational heavy-lift launch vehicles (five meters).

It is 18.5 meters tall and has an internal volume of 458 cubic meters.

The Mission

During its second mission, New Glenn launched NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft on their journey to Mars, where they will orbit the Red Planet and conduct simultaneous observations of solar winds and space weather.

The mission’s lead scientist, Dr. Rob Lillis, provided more details about ESCAPADE and how this mission will help humans once they arrive on Mars.

He indicated that: « two satellites—named Blue and Gold in homage to the colors of the University of California, Berkeley—will study the magnetosphere and space weather of Mars. »

This mission also had commercial objectives. New Glenn also carried technologies from the telecommunications company Viasat that could be used for NASA missions in low Earth orbit.

Named Viasat HaloNet Technology Demonstrator, this satellite will help improve communications between Earth and space.

“Whether it’s supporting Earth observation, scientific payloads, defense missions, or launch operations, HaloNet contributes to