Blue Origin’s New Glenn is riding high after two successful missions in 2025, but when will billionaire Jeff Bezos’ towering rocket launch again?
Similar to Starship – the world’s largest heavy-lift rocket manufactured by Blue Origin’s competitor SpaceX – New Glenn has yet to get off the ground in 2026. Blue Origin, the spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos, had been working toward a February launch of the rocket, which hasn’t lifted off since its second-ever flight in November from Florida’s Space Coast.
Up next, the New Glenn launch vehicle is due to deploy some commercial satellites to low-Earth orbit as Blue Origin increasingly seeks to edge in on a commercial spaceflight market long dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Here’s everything to know about Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, and when it could next launch in Florida.
When is Blue Origin’s next New Glenn rocket launch from Florida?
Blue Origin has not announced a target date for the third launch of its New Glenn rocket, which had previously been targeted for February 2026.
All signs point to liftoff no earlier than sometime in March from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
And this time around, the rocket is due to help deliver to orbit broadband network satellites for AST SpaceMobile, a cellular broadband service provider. The Block 2 BlueBird satellite, with communication arrays as large as 2,400 square feet, would be the largest satellites ever commercially deployed in low-Earth orbit, AST SpaceMobile said in a press release.
Does Jeff Bezos own Blue Origin?
Billionaire Jeff Bezos, best known for founding Amazon, founded the private space technology company Blue Origin in 2000.
Headquartered in Washington state, Blue Origin made a name for itself with its suborbital human spaceflights using its New Shepard spacecraft from West Texas. Those missions, several of which featured celebrities like musician Katy Perry and actor William Shatner, have been paused for at least two years, Blue Origin previously announced.
What is Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket?
Named in honor of NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, New Glenn is a powerful two-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle manufactured by Blue Origin.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket stands at 322 feet tall, making it comparable in size to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) developed for the Artemis moon campaign. SpaceX’s Starship, though, which is approximately 400 feet tall, is still regarded as the largest rocket in the world.
Blue Origin envisions that New Glenn will be capable of shuttling both Amazon Leo satellites, formerly called Project Kuiper, and its separate TeraWave venture to a lower atmosphere called low-Earth orbit. Bezos also has plans for New Glenn to undertake other missions for paying customers – including NASA and telecommunications providers.
New Glenn launches for 2nd time on NASA mission to Mars
The New Glenn rocket last got off the ground Nov. 13 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a mission Blue Origin referred to as NG-2 that helped propel twin NASA ESCAPADE satellites on a journey to Mars. When the spacecraft reach Martian orbit, they are due to spend about a year orbiting the red planet to take simultaneous observations of solar winds and space weather.
The recent mission also saw Blue Origin complete a major first: landing New Glenn’s first stage booster on the deck of a drone ship, named Jacklyn in honor of Bezos’ late mother, several hundred miles offshore in the Atlantic. The maneuver was one Blue Origin failed to complete in New Glenn’s debut voyage on Jan. 16, 2025.
Blue Origin to reuse New Glenn booster for 3rd launch
The booster, nicknamed Never Tell Me the Odds, was due to be refurbished for use on the upcoming third New Glenn launch, Blue Origin previously announced.
The booster made headlines when it was photographed days after the second launch floating into Port Canaveral in Florida.
Once offloaded, Blue Origin guided the 188-foot-tall booster to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, making the company the only one besides SpaceX to return a space-flown booster through the gates. The historic moment was one attended by Bezos, the Amazon mogul who founded Blue Origin in 2000.
Blue Origin says it designed its boosters – which provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff – to last for at least 25 flights.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket could launch in March from Florida
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
