Blue Origin’s NG-1 Mission successfully lifts off from Cape Canaveral, FL on Thursday, Jan. 16, … [+] 2205.
Blue Origin Media
After a few delays, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket safely achieved orbit during its inaugural NG-1 mission, marking a significant milestone for the company and the commercial space industry.
Liftoff occurred at 2:03 a.m. EST (0703 UTC) on Thursday, Jan. 16 from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines successfully powered the rocket into space, while the second stage’s BE-3U engines completed two burns to deliver the payload into its intended orbit. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is now operational, performing as expected and relaying valuable data.
While the booster, named So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance, was lost during descent, the mission’s primary objective – achieving orbit – was accomplished.
“I’m incredibly proud that New Glenn reached orbit on its first attempt,” said Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin. “Landing the booster was an ambitious goal for this flight, and while we didn’t stick the landing, we’ve learned valuable lessons that will inform our next attempt this spring. My deepest thanks to Team Blue for reaching this incredible milestone.”
Blue Origin’s NG-1 mission lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on … [+] January 16, 2025.
Blue Origin Media
New Glenn represents a cornerstone of Blue Origin’s long-term vision, supporting critical customer missions and advancing the company’s ambitious goals, including establishing a sustained human presence on the Moon, harnessing in-space resources, and building destinations in low Earth orbit. The rocket will also support NASA’s Artemis program, carrying the Blue Moon Mark 1 cargo lander and the Mark 2 crewed lander to the lunar surface on future missions.
The program has multiple vehicles in production and a robust manifest of customer orders, including missions for NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, AST SpaceMobile, and leading telecommunications providers. Additionally, Blue Origin is working toward certification with the U.S. Space Force under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program to meet evolving national security needs.
“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for Blue Origin and commercial space,” said Jarrett Jones, Senior Vice President of New Glenn. “As we ramp up launch cadence and manufacturing, I want to thank our incredible team for making this achievement possible. We’re deeply grateful to our customers and the broader space community for their trust and support – we felt it strongly today.”
With this milestone achieved , Blue Origin continues its mission to enable a future where millions of people live and work in space for the benefit of Earth. Follow for future launches and missions.
