Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has landed the booster of its New Glenn mega-rocket on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean in its second attempt – making it the second company after Elon Musk’s SpaceX to accomplish such a feat.
It’s an achievement that will help the new rocket system become an option for sending large payloads to space, the Moon and beyond.
However, Thursday’s launch wasn’t just about the landing attempt. New Glenn’s upper stage is carrying the company’s first commercial payload: twin spacecraft for NASA that will travel to Mars to study the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Those spacecraft are scheduled to be deployed in the upper stage later Thursday.
New Glenn’s first launch took place in January, and Blue Origin experienced several delays in getting the second rocket to the launch pad.
The rocket finally lifted off from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at about 3:55 a.m. ET on Thursday. About four minutes into flight, the second stage separated and headed toward space, while the New Glenn booster began its journey back toward Earth. The 189-foot-long booster touched down on the platform about 10 minutes after takeoff.
Blue Origin attempted to return the New Glenn booster to the rocket on its maiden flight in January. But the booster exploded before the drone had a chance to land on the ship.
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