Overview
- Blue Origin called off the NG-2 mission at Cape Canaveral, citing a safety rule that forbids launching through cumulus clouds.
- The flight was slated to send two NASA EscaPADE spacecraft on their journey to study Mars.
- A Viasat-built communications technology demonstrator for NASA was also aboard the New Glenn payload stack.
- The planned attempt to land New Glenn’s first stage on a floating Atlantic platform is postponed, a maneuver previously demonstrated publicly only by SpaceX.
- New Glenn debuted in January 2025 as Blue Origin builds on its reusable-flight experience from the New Shepard program, which has flown 36 times since 2021.