Blue Origin Lands New Glenn Booster as NASA’s ESCAPADE Probes Head to Mars

Overview

• Blue Origin launched New Glenn for the second time on November 13 from Cape Canaveral carrying NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft and a Viasat technology demo.
• The first-stage booster separated and landed on an ocean platform about 600 km downrange, marking New Glenn’s first recovery.
• The ESCAPADE satellites were deployed and are now en route to study Mars with arrival targeted for 2027.
• NASA paid about $18 million for the launch within a total ESCAPADE mission cost of roughly $55 million, according to U.S. government data reported by Reuters.
• The liftoff followed two earlier delays caused by bad weather on Earth and adverse space weather, highlighting a drive to build reliability in competition with SpaceX.