Blue Origin reschedules New Glenn’s maiden flight to November

Blue Origin has announced it’s rescheduling New Glenn’s maiden flight to November in effect to NASA’s change in the ESCAPADE Mars satellite launch mission.

NASA will not fuel the two ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft for an earlier date on October 14. The agency is letting go of this launch window and will explore other liftoff opportunities no earlier than spring 2025.

NASA decided to stand down from this launch date after a review of launch preparations and discussions with Blue Origin, FAA, Space Launch Delta 45 Range Safety Organization, and other launch partners.

This step will avoid significant cost, schedule, and technical challenges linked with potentially removing fuel from the spacecraft in case of a launch delay.

“We’re supportive of NASA’s decision to target the ESCAPADE mission for no earlier than spring 2025 and look forward to the flight.” wrote Blue Origin on Friday on social media site X (formerly Twitter).

Instead, the company has now swapped this ESCAPADE mission with the second New Glenn launch and brought it up from December to November.

The rocket will carry Blue Ring technology and help the company get certified for National Security Space Launch missions.

Blue Ring can support a variety of missions in medium Earth orbit out to the Cislunar region. Its customers can maneuver Blue Ring and access critical data to ensure a successful mission using delta-V capabilities. Meanwhile, the company is testing all stages of this mega-rocket and preparing them for the first flight.