The sun rising behind the New Glenn booster ‘Never Tell Me The Odds’ as it prepared to enter Port Canaveral this morning. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Blue Origin’s New Glenn first stage “Never Tell Me The Odds” made a happy return to Port Canaveral this morning, marking the first time that Blue Origin returned with a New Glenn booster after a successful flight and landing.
Hundreds of spectators gathered early this morning along the shoreline and on the docks at Port Canaveral. Many arrived before dawn, cameras and phones in hand, eager to capture the moment when the 188 foot-tall booster appeared on Blue Origin’s landing ship ‘Jacklyn’ under two of ‘Harvey Stone’, Blue’s support ship. According to observers, the mood was electric — cheers, applause and shouts of “welcome home” greeted the vessel as it pulled into berth.
Entering PortThe last mileWhere it started, where it finished.
The New Glenn booster previously launched successfully on November 13, carrying NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft toward Mars and achieving the rocket’s first successful booster landing at sea. Built here on Merritt Island, many of the spectators were undoubtedly Blue Origin employees celebrating the return of their handiwork.
Now that the booster is at its home port, it will be transported to Blue Origin’s refurbishment facility, where it will be inspected, refurbished and prepared for another flight. The timing of that flight has not been announced as yet.
This also marked the first time two companies had different boosters on the wharf awaiting return to their respective facilities for refurbishment. That pairing may be eclipsed at some point in the midterm future — Stoke Space and Relativity are also planning to use the Eastern Range for launch operations, and they also plan to reuse boosters in their own right. It’s fair to say this morning was a visible sign of a new era at the Cape, one with frequent launches by multiple providers, with hardware regularly recycled and reused.
New Glenn booster ‘Never Tell Me The Odds’ standing tall aboard ‘Jacklyn’ today. Photo: Charles Boyer, Talk of Titusville
Good things come to those who wait, or so goes the old saying. For Blue Origin and the second flight of New Glenn, the second flight of New Glenn was definitely worth that wait: a flawless liftoff, flight to orbit and a booster safely landed aboard Jacklyn, the company’s landing platform stationed offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. Not a bad day’s work.
New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines ignited at 3:55:01 PM ET Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the rocket began its slow climb into space.
New Glenn NG-2 ESCAPADE lifting off on November 13. 2025 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Good things come to those who wait, or so goes the old saying. For Blue Origin and the second flight of New Glenn, the second flight of New Glenn was definitely worth that wait: a flawless liftoff, flight to orbit and a booster safely landed aboard Jacklyn, the company’s landing platform stationed offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. Not a bad day’s work.
New Glenn’s seven BE-4 engines ignited at 3:55:01 PM ET Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and the rocket began its slow climb into space.
New Glenn NG-2 ESCAPADE lifting off on November 13. 2025
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Not since the Saturn V has a rocket so large flown from the Eastern Range without the benefit of solid rocket boosters, and it showed as New Glenn seemed to take its time tearing away the surly bonds of gravity on its way to space. Slow it may have started, but New Glenn didn’t take long to gather speed and start its climb to space in earnest.
New Glenn HG-2 ESCAPADE shortly after Max-Q on November 13, 2025 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Max-Q came at about T+ 01:35, and MECO at T+ 03:05 into the flight. As GS-2, New Glenn’s second stage continued ascent towards orbit, the first stage began a series of maneuvers that culminated in the first stage landing aboard Jacklyn, Blue’s drone ship landing platform at about T +09:15. After the smoke cleared, the result was clear: Blue Origin had landed their 89 feet (57.5 meters) tall booster on only their second try.
New Glenn NG-2 ESCAPADE in flight on November 13. 2025 Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Meanwhile, at about thirteen minutes into flight, New Glenn achieved its initial orbit and one burn later, at T +33:18 the Rocket Lab built payloads of twin Martian orbiters began deployment.
All in all, it seemed textbook flawless, and even though there were software glitches, ground equipment issues, and other anomalies on the way to liftoff, it’s fair to say that Blue Origin had the day they’d been working for during most of 2025 after the first flight of New Glenn in January. They had an entirely successful mission, and, like NG-1, their engineers gained experience and real-world data in the process. They will undoubtedly put that new knowledge to work, probably before dawn tomorrow as the company gets back to work and starts preparing for its upcoming third New Glenn launch.
Via Blue Origin’s launch stream: New Glenn GS-1 “Never Tell Me The Odds” rests safely aboard Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean.
“We achieved full mission success today, and I am so proud of the team,” said Dave Limp, CEO, Blue Origin. “It turns out Never Tell Me The Odds had perfect odds—never before in history has a booster this large nailed the landing on the second try. This is just the beginning as we rapidly scale our flight cadence and continue delivering for our customers.”
Gwynne Shotwell, CEO of SpaceX said this about Blue Origin’s mission today. Via X.com
ESCAPADE Have A Long Path Ahead
Ground controllers established communications with both spacecraft by 10:35 PM ET. The pair of satellites will now travel to a staging orbit near the Sun–Earth L₂ point, roughly a million miles from Earth.
For ESCAPADE twin satellites, the journey is just beginning.
ESCAPADE — Road Trip to Mars (Travel Plan Overview)
Phase
When
What Happens
1. Launch & Drop-off
Nov 2025
Twin ESCAPADE probes launch on Blue Origin’s New Glenn from Cape Canaveral.
New Glenn places them on a high Earth-proximity trajectory headed toward
the Earth–Sun L2 region instead of a direct Mars transfer.
2. Loiter “Kidney-Bean” Orbit
Late 2025 → Late 2026
Spacecraft enter a long, kidney-bean-shaped orbit near an Earth–Sun
Lagrange point. They perform checkouts and space-weather observations
while waiting for the next favorable Earth–Mars alignment in late 2026.
3. Earth Return & Trans-Mars Injection
Nov 2026
As the loiter orbit swings them back by Earth, the probes pass through a
low perigee and fire their main engines. This burn harnesses the Oberth
effect to efficiently push them onto a Mars-bound trajectory.
4. Cruise to Mars
Late 2026 → Sept 2027
ESCAPADE follows a ballistic transfer orbit to Mars, with small
trajectory-correction maneuvers along the way. Total time from launch to
Mars arrival is about 22 months.
5. Mars Arrival & Capture Orbits
~Sept 2027 → Early 2028
The probes perform Mars Orbit Insertion into a large, highly elliptical
capture orbit. Over the following months, they trim and adjust their
orbits into coordinated science configurations around Mars.
6. Main Science Phase
Late Spring 2028 →
In their final orbits, the twin spacecraft make simultaneous measurements
from different vantage points to study Mars’ magnetosphere and how the
atmosphere escapes into space.
“The ESCAPADE mission is part of our strategy to understand Mars’ past and present so we can send the first astronauts there safely,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Understanding Martian space weather is a top priority for future missions because it helps us protect systems, robots, and most importantly, humans, in extreme environments.”
The Immediate Future Looks Bright For Blue
Blue Origin said today that it has several vehicles in production and multiple years of orders for New Glenn flights. They added in their press release today that in addition to NASA and Viasat, customers include Amazon’s Project Kuiper (Now Amazon LEO), AST SpaceMobile, and several telecommunications providers, among others.
The mission marked the vehicle’s second National Security Space Launch (NSSL) certification flight as well. Blue Origin is certifying New Glenn with the U.S. Space Force for the NSSL program to provide launch services for high-value military payloads, and today’s flight was another step towards achieving that certification.
Now Blue Origin has to work on cadence: for New Glenn to be a profitable and useful program, it must be able to recycle and relaunch vehicles relatively quickly. As Blue stated, they have more hardware under construction here at Exploration Park on Merritt Island. They also have a returning booster to refurbish, repair, and return to the launch pad. It’s a solid start, and a sign that Blue Origin is starting to fulfill its potential as a true competitor in the commercial launch services marketplace.
File photo of Atlas V at SLC-41. Photo: Charles Boyer
A rare launch doubleheader — one that does not involve SpaceX — is planned for today from Cape Canaveral. First, in the afternoon, Blue Origin will make another attempt to get New Glenn off of the pad at LC-36A, and later in the evening, ULA will make a second attempt to launch Atlas V and the ViaSat-3 mission.
Both missions were delayed from their original launch attempts by scrubs: Blue Origin because of weather, then solar storms, ULA by a faulty valve that the company replaced on the rocket.
At A Glance
New Glenn
Organization
Blue Origin
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
New Glenn
Pad
Launch Complex 36A
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 2:57 PM
Window Closes
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 4:25 PM
Destination
Mars Orbit
Mission Description
Second flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn carrying the EscaPADE dual-spacecraft mission (UC Berkeley) to study ion and sputtered escape from Mars, energy/momentum transport from the solar wind through Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere, and how energy and matter flow into and out of the collisional atmosphere.
As of 8:59 AM Thursday November 13, 2025. Launch assignments and times are subject to change or cancellation at any time. Consult
BlueOrigin.com for updates.
Atlas-V
Organization
United Launch Alliance
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
Atlas V 551
Pad
Space Launch Complex 41
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 10:04 PM
Window Closes
Thursday, 11 / 13 / 2025 10:48 PM
Destination
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
Mission Description
The ViaSat-3 series comprises three Ka-band high-capacity satellites; each is designed for >1 Tbps of network capacity with flexible, regionally targetable coverage.
Launch times are subject to change or cancellation at any time.
Weather
Oddly, at the time of this writing, the 45th Weather Squadron of the US Space Force’s Launch Delta 45 has removed their Launch Mission Execution Forecast for Blue Origin’s New Glenn. They do have yesterday’s LMEF for Atlas V:
Solar activity is still expected to be high, and Spaceweather.com is saying that, “Currently, storm levels are bouncing between category G1 (Minor) and G3 (Strong) as solar wind blows around Earth faster than 900 km/s. NOAA forecasters say there is also a lingering chance of severe G4-class storms on Nov. 13th.”
While that is an improvement from yesterday, it is still possible that mission managers for either launch may look at the current conditions and demur due to the impacts of Sunspot 2247. One thing is for sure: Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance and the 45th Weather Squadron have better space weather resources — experts, data, etc. — than the general public. If mission managers are confident, it’s with good reason.
As always, take a “we’ll see what happens” attitude, a comfortable chair and something cool to drink while you wait.
New Glenn standing on its launch pad at LC-36A in Cape Canaveral. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Launch Viewing: In Person
LC-36A is clearly visible all the way down Cocoa beach, the closest being the pier at Jetty Park. Also close to SLC-36 is The Banana River Bridge. This will be a relatively big launch, and if you plan to go to one of the more popular spots for Blue Origin’s launch attempt, go early.
More or less the same spots will work later in the evening for Atlas V, but given that SLC-41 is further north than LC-36A, the southern Titusville Parks or roadside off of 528W at the Banana River bridge might be a wee bit better than the beaches.
Free Advice
Watch the YouTube streams for the latest/greatest information. Things change pretty fast as the countdown heads towards zero, and Will Robinson-Smith on Spaceflight Now or the announcers on Blue Origin’s live stream will keep you up to date.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
Blue Origin was planning to launch New Glenn and the ESCAPADE mission today from Cape Canaveral, but space weather—a relatively rare issue where heightened aurora and atmospheric phenomenae — created a second delay that has kept the 322-foot-tall rocket on the launch pad at LC-36A for the time being.
It’s not often that this happens, but solar activity has forced Blue Origin to scrub today’s launch attempt of New Glenn from Cape Canaveral.
NG-2 Update: New Glenn is ready to launch. However, due to highly elevated solar activity and its potential effects on the ESCAPADE spacecraft, NASA is postponing launch until space weather conditions improve. We are currently assessing opportunities to establish our next launch…
Solar activity has been quite high in the past few days as sunspot 4274 has created coronal mass ejection events this week. Last night, aurorae were visible as far south as Central Florida, and that electrical activity is not good for rockets and payloads. According to NOAA, that activity is set to continue today:
Credit: NOAA. Retrieved November 11, 2025
The culprit is sunspot 4274 (circled in the solar disk photo above), which is nearing the solar horizon and will rotate with the sun to its side facing away from Earth. Today, however, is going be a busy one insofar as solar activity, according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. That necessitated a launch delay.
When Will Blue Origin Try Again?
As their post on X states, Blue Origin is looking at dates and working with officials at the Eastern Range to determine a new launch date for New Glenn. Space Weather is of course a current concern, but their launch date may be affected by United Launch Alliance’s next attempt to launch Atlas V and the ViaSat-3 mission, currently scheduled for tomorrow night.
That’s where it gets sticky: ULA might also be forced to cancel their launch attempt for the same reason Blue Origin scrubbed today: solar storms affecting Earth’s atmosphere. Forecasters at Spaceweather.com posted today that, “Last night’s severe (G4) geomagnetic storm is subsiding, but the action is not over. Earth’s magnetic field is still reverberating from a double-strike of CMEs on Nov. 11th. A third CME is expected to hit Earth on Nov. 12th, elevating storm levels back to G3/G4.” How long that lasts will determine ULA’s plan and whether they have to push their launch.
Should that happen, there will be some congestion on the Range, and at that point, priorities will need to be assigned. Stay tuned,
Why Does Solar Weather Matter To Rockets?
Solar activity can disrupt the communications and navigation systems that ascending rockets rely on. Radio bursts from solar flares add noise to tracking radars and telemetry links, while geomagnetic storms disturb the ionosphere, degrading GPS accuracy used by guidance and range safety. These events also heat the upper atmosphere, increasing drag and altering ascent conditions, complicating performance predictions.
Today’s solar disk. Credit: NASA / SDO
Launch operators monitor space-weather alerts and compare conditions to launch commit criteria; when space weather indices are elevated, they may delay to keep comms, navigation, and environmental margins within acceptable limits. In other words, it’s electrical activity that can scramble vital communications and control.
Blue Origin and NASA did just that, wisely not taking these risks lightly and choosing to wait for the storms to fade and the atmosphere to calm before launching New Glenn.
As the old saying goes: “It’s better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground.”
New Glenn standing on its launch pad at LC-36A in Cape Canaveral. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
I nearly deleted this from my card when I saw it on the camera. The lens was a 16mm/2.8, I hated the barrel distortion and the overall softness of the shot. Then I looked at it on a laptop, and hmmm, that is actually pretty sharp. You can see the first stage for quite a long way if you look full size.
New Glenn NG-2 standing ready to launch on November 9 with omnipresent gray clouds lurking in the background. They would soon bring rain. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Blue Origin called off the highly anticipated first launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday afternoon, citing poor weather conditions at Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 36. It was a day when the sun and rain alternated, and sometimes the sun would stay out while it was raining: call it sunny rain. That proved to be unacceptable to the launch team, and a scrub was called just at the end of the launch window, around 4:15 PM ET.
Blue Origin will recycle and reset, planning for the next attempt for a launch on Wednesday afternoon. The window opens at 2:50 PM ET, and extends to 4:17 the same day.
This Launch Had Everything
It’s rare to say that a launch countdown is an adventure, but this one was — it had everything: rain, then sun, then more rain, fishing boats fouling the range, then the fishing boat losing one of two of its motors and having to limp out to a safe area, and finally, once the fishermen were safely north of the exclusion area, a cruise ship ignoring the Notice to Mariners advisory and heading out into the range, temporarily fouling it in their rush to head to sea with thousands of vacationers aboard.
The first part, weather, you could follow with your own eyes if you were watching from close by. The second, boats and ships in the exclusion area, was a drama easily followed on Channel 16 of the marine band. The weather was shifting often as a steady line of storms between Titusville and Daytona Beach would move south, then drift north. The boat captains were generally cooperative and jocular. The cruise ship? Silent on the channels we were monitoring.
Blue Origin had their own water security team to help keep the range clear. They had a busy day yesterday, starting in the morning when New Glenn started its propellant load. Look closely, and you could see him checking us out closely, even though we were outside any closed areas. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Crowds were heavy, with Jetty Park and Cherie Down Park in Cape Canaveral reaching capacity despite the weather. The beaches were lined with spectators as well, with everyone looking forward to the sight of the 322-foot rocket lumbering skyward. It was not to be on this day, but few grumbles were heard from anyone.
Jetty Park Pier was lined solid with launch spectators mixed in with the press. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
At A Glance
Countdown to Window OpenT–00:00:00Opens: Nov 12, 2025, 2:50 PM
New Glenn | ESCAPADE — Launch Details
Field
Details
Mission
New Glenn | EscaPADE Go for Launch!
Window Opens
Wednesday, 11/12/2025 2:50:00 PM
Window Closes
Wednesday, 11/12/2025 4:17:00 PM
Organization
Blue Origin
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
New Glenn
Pad
Launch Complex 36A
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Destination
Mars Orbit
Mission Description
Second flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle carrying the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), a dual-spacecraft mission from University of California, Berkeley to study ion and sputtered escape from Mars. The spacecrafts' scientific goals are to understand the processes controlling the structure of Mars' hybrid magnetosphere and how it guides ion flows; understand how energy and momentum are transported from the solar wind through Mars' magnetosphere; and understand the processes controlling the flow of energy and matter into and out of the collisional atmosphere.
As of …
Weather
The 45th Weather Squadron has released their L-2 forecast for New Glenn's second launch attempt:
The offshore landing area remains an area of concern and may yet affect the second launch attempt. We'll see. The 45th will issue another Launch Mission Execution Forecast tomorrow.
New Glenn NG-2 ready for launch on November 9, 2025. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
New Glenn NG-2 on the launch pad this morning. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Blue Origin has raised New Glenn to its vertical launch position at LC-36A, with the 322-foot-tall set to liftoff this afternoon between 2:45 PM and 5:11 PM ET. Weather may be a concern, with acceptable conditions expected to fade as the afternoon progresses.
After booster separation, Blue Origin will attempt to land the GS-1 New Glenn first stage on Jacklyn, its automated droneship.
At A Glance
Organization
Blue Origin
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
New Glenn
Pad
Launch Complex 36A
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Sunday, 11 / 09 / 2025 2:45 PM
Window Closes
Sunday, 11 / 09 / 2025 5:11 PM
Destination
Mars Orbit
Mission Description
Second flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn carrying NASA’s EscaPADE dual-spacecraft mission (UC Berkeley) to study ion and sputtered escape from Mars and the energy/momentum flow through Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere.
As of 7:34 PM Saturday November 8, 2025. Launch assignments and times are subject to change or cancellation at any time. Consult
BlueOrigin.com for updates.
New Glenn at LC-36A today. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Weather
The 45th Weather Squadron of Space Launch Delta 45 has released their latest weather forecast for tomorrow’s launch window: 65->55% GO.
An interesting area of concern is noted by the 45th: solar activity. Currently, NOAA forecasters expect moderate geomagnetic storms for the next seventy-two hours as additional Coronal Mass Ejections brush or strike Earth’s magnetic field, due to activity traced to active sunspot 4274.
Sunspot 4274, circled. Credit: NASA/SDO
Fortunately, the concern is rated low to moderate, so it’s worth keeping the corner of your eye on it.
Trajectory
Neither Blue Origin or NASA have provided any specific numbers, but the launch trajectory is expected to be ~28.5° — due east.
Payload
ESCAPADE is a pair of small, matching Mars probes built by Rocket Lab, with each carrying compact instruments to sample magnetic fields and charged particles around the planet. The sensor suite includes a magnetometer provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and lightweight plasma instruments developed with university collaborators, sized for a dual-spacecraft flight.
ESCAPADE Spacecraft. Credit: Rocket Lab
Their job is to observe how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ patchy crustal magnetism and how that interaction helps strip the upper atmosphere. By flying in coordinated orbits, the two spacecraft can compare conditions at different points at nearly the same time, building a time-varying picture of Mars’ magnetosphere and ionosphere that a single probe would miss.
The mission is led and operated by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, which will command the spacecraft and manage science operations. Rocket Lab built and integrated the vehicles; Blue Origin provides launch services for the ride off Earth, with additional contributions from partners including NASA Goddard and industry and academic teams.
Launch Viewing: In Person
LC-36A is clearly visible all the way down Cocoa beach, the closest being the pier at Jetty Park. Also close to SLC-36 is The Banana River Bridge. This will be a relatively big launch, and if you plan to go to one of the more popular spots, go early.
If possible, watch one of the YouTube streams for the latest/greatest information. Things change pretty fast as the countdown heads towards zero, and Will Robinson-Smith on Spaceflight Now or the announcers on Blue Origin’s live stream will keep you up to date.
Remember that there is a delay between a launch stream and the actual countdown clock. That is simply because of physics: it takes time for the signal to travel from the launch site, through the Internet, and back down to your phone, resulting in a five to fifteen-second delay.
New Glenn NG-1 at LC-36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
Blue Origin has officially announced the launch date and time window for its second New Glenn mission, NG‑2. It is now officially scheduled to lift off no earlier than Sunday, November 9, 2025, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch window opens at 2:45 PM ET and closes at 5:11 PM ET (19:45–22:11 UTC).
🚀 Launch Alert | We're targeting New Glenn's second launch no earlier than Sunday, November 9, from LC-36. NG-2 will send @NASA's ESCAPADE twin spacecraft on their journey to Mars and carry a @Viasat technology demonstration for @NASASpaceOps' Communications Services Project. pic.twitter.com/6rK6wg9yxJ
An Early Look At The Weather For Sunday November 9th
Weather might pose a problem on Sunday, as there is a ~40-50% chance of rain in the forecast. Monday the 10th looks to be the beginning of a cold spell for the Space Coast, as winds will shift to the northwest as a frigid air mass approaches the area. Veteran’s Day will bring a winter-like high of 62ºF, with northerly winds ranging from 10-20 MPH. While none of that is any sort of Launch Mission Execution Forecast, it’s reason able to expect the 45th Weather Squadron to come out with something less than an ideal forecast for this flight.
In Brief
New Glenn | EscaPADE
Organization
Blue Origin
Location
Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA
Rocket
New Glenn
Pad
Launch Complex 36A
Status
Go for Launch
Status Info
Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources.
Window Opens
Sunday, 11 / 09 / 2025 2:45 PM
Window Closes
Sunday, 11 / 09 / 2025 5:11 PM
Destination
Mars Orbit
Mission Description
Maiden flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn carrying NASA’s twin Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) to study ion and sputtered escape from Mars and the processes that shape the planet’s hybrid magnetosphere and energy/momentum transport from the solar wind.
As of 10:16 AM Thursday November 6, 2025. Launch assignments and times are subject to change or cancellation at any time. Consult
BlueOrigin.com for updates.
The NG‑2 mission will carry the Rocket Lab-built ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft — a pair of identical satellites bound for Mars. Also aboard is a technology demonstration payload for Viasat, part of NASA’s Communications Services Project.
The New Glenn rocket’s first stage will attempt recovery via landing on the offshore ship Jacklyn, while the upper stage delivers the payload to its Mars-bound trajectory. Jacklyn left Port Canaveral overnight, and is now steaming towards its planned downrange position to await GS-1, New Glenn’s booster.
While Blue Origin has maintained that a successful booster landing remains a tertiary goal for the mission, it is still an important one for the company: recovering the first stage sets the table for refurbishment and reflight, a key part of the economics of the New Glenn program. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp commented yesterday on social media on the landing attempt, saying, “What if we don’t stick the landing? That’s ok. We’ve got several more New Glenn boosters already in production.”
The first two goals are obvious: a successful ascent to orbit for the 320 ft (98 m) tall rocket flying for the second time. Following that, a successful payload deployment for NASA and ViaSat, Blue Origin’s customers for NG-2.
Stay Tuned
As always, lots of things can and probably will change prior to Sunday in regards to the mission.
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