Written by Hugo Barcia |
Miami (USA) (EFE). – The controlled landing of the first stage of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on a marine platform that will allow it to be used on future space missions brings Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ company one step closer to SpaceX in the space race between the two private companies.
New Glenn achieved this feat last Thursday after launching two NASA satellites headed for Mars. Just ten minutes after liftoff, the first stage of the spacecraft landed safely on a platform located several hundred kilometers off the coast of Florida.
The stage of controlled landing was previously achieved only by Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship of the company founded by Elon Musk. Falcon 9 made its first successful landing in 2015, and Starship, the most powerful rocket on the planet, will do so in 2024.
SpaceX was able to land the Falcon 9 first stage 513 times. He also successfully landed the Super Heavy, the first phase of his Starship, last June, and in October 2024 he captured it using a crane on the launch pad.
What is New Glen?
The New Glenn is a 98-meter-tall, 7-meter-diameter rocket capable of carrying more than 13 tons to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) and 45 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
Yesterday was New Glenn’s second launch and the first to land successfully. In the first attempt last January, the first stage of the vehicle was lost during the descent to the sea platform.
According to Blue Origin, this first stage is designed for at least 25 flights, and its reuse will reduce costs and waste.
Differences with SpaceX ships
New Glenn resembles SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, with a height of 70 meters and a diameter of 12 meters, capable of carrying 63.8 tons to LEO and 26.7 tons to GTO.
In comparison, the Falcon 9 is 70 meters tall and can carry 8.3 tons to LEO and 22.8 tons to GTO, while the Starship, standing 123 meters above the ground, carries between 100 and 150 tons.
The first stage of the Blue Origin rocket has seven engines, while its landing gear contains six landing legs.
The Falcon Heavy is equipped with 27 Merlin engines, while the Falcon 9 first stage consists of nine engines and four landing gear legs, and the Super Heavy is equipped with 33 engines.
Since the Super Heavy has no landing legs, it can be picked up by a crane on the launch pad. On the other hand, the second stage of the Starship also managed to land successfully, a key milestone in the recovery and reuse of the entire launch system.
How does your success affect your career at SpaceX?
SpaceX continues to lead the private sector’s race to control space travel. It has been more than a decade since the first successful Falcon 9 landing and a year since it was done with Starship.
However, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy took a shot at SpaceX last October when he publicly said Musk’s company was lagging behind China in the race to return to the moon.
Duffy added that the US government will open up to other companies the contract that SpaceX signed in 2021 with NASA to provide a lander for the Artemis III mission, with which the United States intends to set foot on the moon again this decade.
Blue Origin will be one of the big beneficiaries of the move, though companies like Axiom and Boeing have also launched launches in recent years.
The decision, announced by Duffy, comes months after Musk and US President Donald Trump made their estrangement public during a heated debate on social media during which Trump threatened to decommission SpaceX’s Dragon capsule.
