Blue Origin welcomed “Never Tell Me the Odds” back to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday, Nov. 20 – where the rocket booster launched exactly one week prior.
After offloading at Port Canaveral, the company’s first-ever recovered booster rolled past Sands Space History Museum as a crowd of media watched. Officials from Blue Origin guided the 188-foot-tall New Glenn booster to the Space Force station, making Blue Origin the only company besides SpaceX to return a space-flown booster through the gates.
“I could not be more excited to see the New Glenn launch, and Blue Origin recover that booster and bring it back,” Col. Brian Chatman, commander of Space Launch Delta 45, told FLORIDA TODAY. “It’s all part of our certification process and campaign to certify more national security space launch providers, launch carriers, to get our most crucial satellites up on orbit.”
Regardless of the name of the booster, the odds fell in Blue Origin’s favor on Nov. 13. The second New Glenn rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral Space Force Station carrying NASA’s ESCAPADE mission. While a New Glenn had launched successfully before, it was a gamble whether Blue Origin could score a booster landing on the rocket’s second flight.
Less than 10 minutes into the flight, the New Glenn booster descended onto the company’s blue and white barge named Jacklyn.
Landing an orbital rocket booster took SpaceX more than five years to accomplish. Blue Origin achieved this milestone within a year and with a larger rocket.
“Never Tell Me the Odds” returned to Port Canaveral on Tuesday, Nov. 18, greeted by a large crowd and two SpaceX boosters. It was lowered horizontally late in the morning of Nov. 19, as spectators watched alongside the restaurants and fishing boats at the port.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Blue Origin brings home New Glenn rocket booster to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Reporting by Brooke Edwards, Florida Today / Florida Today
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