Overview
- Blue Origin reported a 38-second pad hotfire with all seven BE-4 engines, including 22 seconds at full thrust and throttling to mimic a landing burn.
- NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft, built by Rocket Lab with UC Berkeley for Mars plasma and magnetic field studies, are encapsulated in New Glenn’s 7-meter fairing.
- The FAA published potential launch windows of Friday from 2:51–4:50 p.m. ET and a Saturday backup from 2:49–4:49 p.m. ET, with no launch attempt yet confirmed by Blue Origin or NASA.
- New Glenn reached orbit on its inaugural flight in January; this mission also targets progress on first-stage recovery to the ship Jacklyn after an earlier landing attempt fell short.
- A successful NG-2 could help Blue Origin toward U.S. Space Force certification for national-security launches, and the ESCAPADE launch carries a reported $20 million task order.