Overview
- Blue Origin ignited seven BE-4 engines at 9:59 p.m. ET on Oct. 30 at Launch Complex 36 for a 38-second hold-down firing, with 22 seconds at full power and nearly 3.9 million pounds of thrust reported by the company.
- The rocket will roll back to its hangar for installation of NASA’s twin EscaPADE spacecraft before returning to the pad for final checks.
- No launch date is announced, with reporting from multiple sources pointing to a target no earlier than November 9.
- CEO Dave Limp said the test replicated a landing sequence by throttling and shutting down engines to study fluid behavior between active and inactive feedlines.
- Blue Origin plans a propulsive landing attempt on the barge Jacklyn with potential booster reuse on a Blue Moon Mk.1 mission after the first flight’s stage was lost when its engines did not restart.