Blue Origin’s NASA Launch to Mars Is a Shot across the Bow for Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Blue Origin’s NASA Launch to Mars Is a Shot across the Bow for SpaceX

By Claire Cameron edited by Lee Billings

Blue Origin successfully launched — and partially landed — the company’s New Glenn rocket Thursday, marking a major step forward in its bid to rival SpaceX as a reliable provider of reusable rockets for NASA and other government agencies.

The rocket took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 3:55 P.M. EST loaded up with NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to study how space weather impacts Mars. Somewhat ironically, space weather was also the cause of the mission’s latest delays, as a severe solar storm on Wednesday made conditions in Earth orbit too risky to attempt a planned launch. The rocket’s reusable first stage, dubbed “Never Tell Me the Odds,” touched back down minutes later on a Blue Origin drone ship — a first for the company.

New Glenn’s flight represented a test for Blue Origin, which has long sought to compete with SpaceX’s fully reusable rockets, which dominate the global launch market. During New Glenn’s inaugural flight in January this year, the company failed to land the first stage on their oceanic barge. After today’s successful landing, Blue Origin is much better positioned to win lucrative launch contracts — including some that have recently been put back on the table for NASA’s upcoming moon missions that had originally gone to SpaceX.

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Elon Musk’s rocket company is lagging behind on development for its Starship megarocket, which NASA had hoped to use to ferry astronauts to and from lunar orbit to the moon’s surface as part of the Artemis III mission slated for 2027. However, in October, Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said the agency would reopen competition for the mission’s crewed lander — creating a potential opening for Blue Origin and other aerospace firms.

Days ahead of Thursday’s launch, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said that the company “would move heaven and Earth” to help NASA meet its goal of returning people to the moon as soon as possible.

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