Blue Origin intends to launch a more powerful analogue of the SpaceX Falcon 9 for the first time before the end of the year

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has announced plans to launch its new New Glenn rocket into space this year. This is despite the fact that there is not much left until the end of December, and it has not yet received regulatory approval to conduct the final and key test – engine fire tests.

Image Source: Blue Origin

Static fire tests of all seven BE-4 engines of the first stage of the rocket will take place before its launch, when it will be fully assembled on the launch pad. If successful, Blue Origin will move on to work on attaching the payload fairing as the final step before launch.

Jeff Bezos has high hopes for New Glenn, arguing that its use will significantly reduce the cost of delivering cargo into space. At The New York Times’ Dealbook Summit in early December, he made it clear in media interviews that New Glenn would be the key to turning Blue Origin into a profitable business. “I think this will be the best business I’ve ever been in, but it will take some time,” Bezos said.

The first New Glenn mission was originally planned to send two probes to Mars for NASA, with a suitable launch window opening in October. But it was ultimately decided to delay their launch until the next New Glenn flight in the spring of 2025, and the first NG-1 mission would test an experimental payload for the company’s Blue Ring Pathfinder orbital transport vehicle (Blue Ring Pathfinder, pictured above), including communications, power system, on-board computer and software.

The rocket’s upcoming flight will be the first of two certification launches Blue Origin must conduct to gain approval to launch payloads under the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program.

But first, Blue Origin must get approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Only after receiving regulatory approval will Blue Origin be able to launch the rocket from the US Space Force base at Cape Canaveral in Florida.

New Glenn is a two-stage heavy-duty launch vehicle with a partially reusable design. The first stage will land vertically after launch for reuse, similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. However, the Blue Origin rocket will be much more powerful than its competitor from SpaceX and will be able to deliver much more cargo into space at a time: up to 45 tons to low-Earth orbit, and up to 13 tons to geostationary transfer orbit.