Overview
- Blue Origin announced GS3 and Northstar on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, revealing a BE‑7–powered third stage and a new methalox first‑stage engine to broaden New Glenn's mission set.
- GS3 is designed to enable direct insertion to geostationary orbit and trans‑lunar injection and has completed a composite liquid‑hydrogen tanking test at Launch Site One using BE‑7 with a quoted vacuum specific impulse above 460 seconds.
- The company published payload figures showing GS3 can carry up to 8 tonnes to GEO and 10 tonnes to TLI on the current 7×2 New Glenn and up to 14 tonnes to GEO and 20 tonnes to TLI on the larger 9×4 variant.
- Northstar is a LOX/methane booster engine rated at 715,000 pounds‑force, uses heavy additive manufacturing, and is presented as 30 percent lighter with 50 percent fewer parts than BE‑4 after moving from approval to development testing in 11 months.
- Blue Origin says GS3 is contracted for a government cis‑lunar mission targeted for 2028 and plans to reuse New Glenn interfaces to limit customer impact while it continues pad repairs and return‑to‑flight work after the May pad explosion.