Overview
- New Glenn lifted off from Cape Canaveral on November 13 carrying NASA’s twin Escapade probes to begin a mission to study how the Sun affects Mars.
- The first-stage booster touched down upright on a sea platform roughly 600 kilometers off Florida about nine minutes after liftoff, the company’s first successful orbital-class recovery.
- Escapade’s two spacecraft will stage near the Sun–Earth L2 point, then perform burns and an Earth gravity assist later this month to head for Mars, targeting arrival in 2027 to probe solar‑wind interactions with the planet’s magnetospheric environment.
- The flight was the rocket’s second; January’s debut reached orbit without a return attempt, and the recovered booster is designed for refurbishment with a target of up to about 25 flights.
- The milestone strengthens Blue Origin’s competitive position relative to SpaceX as NASA reopens its Artemis lunar lander procurement following recent test issues at its incumbent provider.