In This Story
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration gave Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin approval for its first-ever mission of the New Glenn vehicle, potentially allowing the aerospace firm to reach its 2024 launch goal.
Suggested Reading
How AI is redefining careers, according to Deloitte CTO Bill Briggs
Suggested Reading
The FAA said it had determined that the Washington-based company had met all licensing requirements. The five-year license allows Blue Origin to conduct missions from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, with New Glenn’s first stage landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean.
“By working closely with Blue Origin, the FAA issued this new launch license well in advance of the statutory deadline for the historic maiden flight of New Glenn,” Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation Kelvin B. Coleman said in a statement.
“A big thanks to the FAA for the partnership, especially over the holidays,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a statement posted on X. “Here’s to NG-1 — we are really close, folks.”
New Glenn — named after John Glenn, who made the first American orbital flight in 1962 — is a 322-foot rocket with two stages, the first of which is reusable. Some of its parts have been in the works since around 2012 but the vehicle was officially unveiled in September 2016. Its debut launch has been repeatedly delayed over the years, but a late December launch could now become a reality.
Earlier this month, Blue Origin said it was on track to launch New Glenn’s first mission, NG-1, before 2025. New Glenn is expected to carry the Blue Ring Pathfinder, which will test the core flight, ground systems, and operational capabilities used for the planned Blue Ring project. The pathfinder will remain on New Glenn’s second stage for the entirety of the approximately six-hour mission.
Blue Ring, which was announced in 2023, is a transfer vehicle for delivering satellites to their planned orbits and can carry 3,000 kilograms of payload, according to SpaceNews. Blue Origin has been testing its tech over the last few months and has aimed to finish those procedures in recent weeks.
“It’s literally on the pad now, waiting for regulatory approval. It’s waiting for its final regulatory approval to launch, so we’re very, very close,” Bezos said on December 4 at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. At the time, the Amazon (AMZN-1.71%) founder also acknowledged that Blue Origin “is not a very good business yet,” but will likely “be the best business that I’ve ever been involved in.”
Despite founding Blue Origin in 2000, the company has only recently become a serious player in the aerospace industry. It faces an uphill battle, including steep competition from Elon Musk’s own space company, SpaceX, which has ramped up test launches of its reusable Starship mega-rocket and deployed dozens of Starlink satellites into orbit this year alone.
In May, NASA tapped Blue Origin for its next crewed flight to the moon. The Pentagon also selected Blue Origin, along with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, to provide launch services for the U.S. Space Force. The three companies will compete for contracts potentially worth up to $5.6 billion over five years starting in 2025.
—Rocio Fabbro contributed to this article
