By Sarah Cope | 2025-12-22

Blue Origin made history in November when it successfully recovered its first-stage booster after launching two NASA spacecraft on their path to Mars.

It was the first time Blue Origin has successfully launched a payload to orbit and also recovered the booster, dubbed "Never Tell Me The Odds," for future use.

Blue Origin is the second US private space company after SpaceX to achieve that feat.

The 321-foot New Glenn rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station November 13 on its second mission, with seven BE-4 engines producing 3.9 million pounds of thrust during its ascent.

The rocket succeeded in placing two NASA ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft on their trajectory toward Mars.

But the booster’s safe return to Earth was one of the mission's most celebrated components.

Minutes after dispatching the ESCAPADE spacecraft, the mission controllers guided the booster through reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and its descent toward Blue Origin’s purpose-built landing platform vessel, Jacklyn.

The booster conducted a series of deceleration burns to ensure its controlled descent onto the vessel, which was waiting to receive it in the Atlantic Ocean, about 600km from the launch site.

Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp celebrated the achievement, noting that to date, no booster this large has successfully landed on its second attempt.

Implications for future missions

The successful booster recovery demonstrates a leap forward in the sustainability of space operations, as a reusable heavy-lift rocket reduces costs and enhances flexibility for the government and private sector alike.

As Blue Origin expands its booster fleet, it is possible that it can support higher mission frequency and demand for intensive launches, such as large satellite constellations or a high-mass spacecraft.

Beyond operating costs, reliance on single-use vehicles as the primary launch platforms can create scheduling and production constraints. New Glenn’s proven reusability means future bottlenecks can be reduced.

This expands access to space for a wide range of customers.

A successful launch furthers Blue Origin’s goal to become a certified provider under the National Security Space Launch program, which requires a record of consistent launch and recovery results.

"The Space Force congratulates Blue Origin on its launch of NG-2," said Lt. Col. Brian Scheller, US Space Systems Command’s system program manager.

The achievement is "a monumental step towards New Glenn delivering our most critical warfighting capabilities to orbit," he said.

In addition, Blue Origin has outlined several improvements for upcoming flights, including increased BE-4 thrust and enhancements to extend booster longevity.

The company is building multiple New Glenn vehicles to support a range of customers, from NASA to Amazon and commercial telecommunications clients.

ESCAPADE mission to Mars

While the booster recovery was an exciting mission milestone, the scientific purpose remains the centerpiece.

The ESCAPADE spacecraft launch marks the first Mars-related mission in five years, since NASA launched its Perseverance rover. The two spacecraft will investigate how solar wind and storms influence the Martian atmosphere.

The two spacecraft have a while before they reach Mars, first traveling to Lagrange point 2 (an area of gravitational stability about 1.5 million km from Earth), where they will remain for a year.

In November 2026, when Earth and Mars are more closely aligned in their orbits, the ESCAPADE spacecraft will travel back toward Earth and leverage Earth’s gravity to slingshot toward Mars.

This trajectory will allow the mission to launch outside of the typical Earth-Mars transfer window, which lasts a short time and occurs only once every two years.

The ESCAPADE spacecraft are slated to reach the Red Planet in September 2027, where they will begin to analyze Martian weather patterns and build on the growing body of data collected by other Martian spacecraft.

New Glenn also carried a secondary payload to test Viasat’s telemetry relay service under NASA’s Communications Services Project.

During the demonstration, Viasat’s geostationary satellite network transmitted telemetry data from the rocket’s second stage to an operations center on Earth, previewing potential public-private communications collaboration.