Blue Origin's New Glenn NG-2 Mission

Blue Origin conducted the second flight of its New Glenn rocket on November 13, 2025, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This marked the vehicle's first mission carrying customer payloads, including NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) spacecraft—two identical probes named Blue and Gold, built by Rocket Lab with instruments from the University of California, Berkeley.

A secondary payload from Viasat provided in-space telemetry relay, which remained attached to the upper stage and operated as planned. The EscaPADE probes are en route to Mars on a 22-month trajectory to study the planet's space weather, including solar wind interactions with its magnetic field and atmospheric depletion, over an 11-month orbital phase starting in 2027. NASA funded the EscaPADE mission at approximately $55 million, with $18 million allocated to Blue Origin for the launch.

The mission achieved full success, with the EscaPADE spacecraft deployed about 20 minutes after liftoff. The 17-story first-stage booster, powered by seven BE-4 engines and named "Never Tell Me the Odds," successfully landed on the recovery barge Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean roughly 10 minutes post-liftoff, marking Blue Origin's first such recovery for an orbital-class vehicle. This advances Blue Origin's certification process with the U.S. Space Force for national security launches.

Timeline of Salient Events

October 2024: NASA's EscaPADE mission—comprising two identical spacecraft (Blue and Gold) to study Mars' space weather—was originally scheduled for launch on New Glenn's debut flight (NG-1). This date was set after NASA selected Blue Origin in 2023, with a contract value of $18 million for the launch services (part of a $55 million total mission cost).
Late 2024: Delays in New Glenn's development led NASA and Blue Origin to postpone EscaPADE from NG-1 to the vehicle's second flight (NG-2), rescheduling the mission to 2025. NG-1 was shifted to January 2025 with an internal Blue Origin payload instead.
January 13, 2025: Blue Origin announced a one-day shift for NG-1's launch window, setting it no earlier than this date.
January 16, 2025: New Glenn's inaugural flight (NG-1) launched at 2:03 a.m. EST (0703 UTC) from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. It carried a prototype payload for Blue Origin's Blue Ring spacecraft and successfully reached orbit. However, the first-stage booster landing attempt on a recovery barge failed.
Early November 2025: Preparations for NG-2 faced multiple scrubs over several days due to cloudy weather and a geomagnetic storm caused by intense solar activity—the strongest of 2025.
November 13, 2025: New Glenn's second flight (NG-2) launched at 3:55 p.m. EST (2055 UTC) from the same site. It deployed the EscaPADE spacecraft approximately 20 minutes after liftoff, along with a secondary Viasat payload for in-space telemetry relay (which remained attached to the upper stage and functioned as intended). The first-stage booster, named Never Tell Me the Odds successfully landed on the recovery barge Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean about 10 minutes post-liftoff—the first such recovery for an orbital-class Blue Origin vehicle. This mission advanced Blue Origin's certification with the U.S. Space Force for national security payloads.
2027 (Planned): EscaPADE spacecraft are expected to arrive at Mars after a 22-month transit, entering elliptical orbits for an 11-month science phase studying solar wind interactions with the planet's magnetic field and atmosphere.

Comparison of Blue Origin's New Glenn NG-2 Mission to Similar SpaceX Missions

Blue Origin's New Glenn NG-2 mission, launched on November 13, 2025, deployed NASA's EscaPADE spacecraft on a trajectory to Mars and achieved the vehicle's first successful booster landing, marking a step in reusable heavy-lift capabilities for interplanetary science payloads. In comparison, SpaceX has conducted analogous missions using its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which also emphasize reusability and support NASA science objectives, though with a longer operational history and higher launch frequency.

Vehicle Specifications

Size and Design: New Glenn measures 98 meters (320 feet) tall with a 7-meter diameter, making it larger than Falcon 9 (70 meters tall, 3.7-meter diameter) and more comparable to Falcon Heavy (70 meters tall but with a triple-core configuration for enhanced thrust). New Glenn's 7-meter payload fairing accommodates bulkier payloads, exceeding Falcon 9's 5.2 meters.
Payload Capacity (Reusable Mode): New Glenn can deliver up to 45,000 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO) and 13,000 kg to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), surpassing Falcon 9's 22,800 kg to LEO and 8,300 kg to GTO but aligning closer to Falcon Heavy's 63,800 kg to LEO (though Falcon Heavy often operates in expendable mode for maximum capacity).
Engines and Propellant: New Glenn uses seven BE-4 engines fueled by liquid oxygen and methane (methalox), which supports cleaner reusability with less residue buildup. Falcon 9 employs nine Merlin engines with liquid oxygen and kerosene (kerolox), while Falcon Heavy uses 27 Merlins across its cores; kerosene can cause coking issues during refurbishment.

Reusability and Launch History

Reusability Milestones: New Glenn's booster landed successfully on its second flight after a failed attempt on the first (January 2025), with design goals for at least 25 reuses per stage. In contrast, Falcon 9 achieved its first booster landing in December 2015 and has since recorded over 530 successful landings out of more than 540 attempts, with individual boosters reused up to 24 times. Falcon Heavy, first flown in 2018, typically recovers its side boosters (as seen in recent missions) but often expends the center core for high-energy trajectories.
Operational Cadence: New Glenn has completed two flights as of November 2025. Falcon 9 has exceeded 500 total launches, with 132 in 2024 alone and projections for 165-170 in 2025, enabling frequent reusability iterations.

Comparable NASA Missions

NG-2 (EscaPADE): This mission delivered two NASA-funded probes (built by Rocket Lab) to study Mars' space weather, with a 22-month transit and operations starting in 2027; it cost NASA $55 million total, including $18 million for the launch. The flight demonstrated orbital insertion, payload deployment, and booster recovery.
SpaceX Equivalents: While SpaceX has not yet launched a dedicated Mars mission, Falcon Heavy has handled similar interplanetary NASA science payloads. The Europa Clipper mission (October 10, 2024) sent a probe to Jupiter's moon Europa to assess habitability, with side boosters recovered on land (center core expended); this $5 billion mission parallels EscaPADE in scope as a deep-space exploration effort. Other examples include Psyche (October 2023, to a metal asteroid) and DART (November 2021, asteroid impact test), both on Falcon Heavy with partial booster recovery. Falcon 9 supports NASA's Crew and Cargo Dragon missions to the International Space Station, which involve reusable boosters but are limited to low Earth orbit. Both companies contribute to NASA's Artemis program for lunar returns, with New Glenn slated for Blue Moon lander deliveries starting in 2026 and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy/Starship handling related roles.

Overall, New Glenn introduces competition in the heavy-lift market with advantages in size and cleaner fuel for reusability, but SpaceX's Falcon family maintains leads in proven reliability, reuse frequency, and mission volume for NASA contracts.