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Blue Origin’s New Glenn Launches NASA Mars Probes and Lands Booster at Sea

The flight marked New Glenn’s first customer mission, validating Blue Origin’s reusable-booster strategy with a successful barge recovery.

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NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission launched at 3:55 p.m. EST atop a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Credit: Blue Origin
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Overview

  • New Glenn lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 13 and deployed NASA’s twin ESCAPADE satellites on their Mars-bound trajectory.
  • The first-stage booster touched down on Blue Origin’s autonomous ship Jacklyn about 375 miles offshore, the rocket’s first successful recovery.
  • ESCAPADE will linger near the Earth–Sun L2 point, depart in late 2026, and enter Martian orbit in 2027 to study how solar wind drives atmospheric escape at Mars.
  • The launch followed multiple scrubs caused by poor local weather and elevated geomagnetic activity, after coordination with range and regulatory authorities.
  • Federal data indicate NASA budgeted roughly $55 million for ESCAPADE and paid about $18 million for the New Glenn launch, while a Viasat relay demo stayed attached to the upper stage.