United Launch Alliance successfully launched its Vulcan Centaur rocket early Thursday morning, carrying a national security payload for the U.S. Space Force on the USSF-87 mission.
Liftoff occurred at 4:22 AM ET from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, about midway through a two-hour window that opened at 3:30 AM.
Blue Origin announced late this afternoon that the company “will pause its New Shepard flights and shift resources to further accelerate development of the company’s human lunar capabilities.” Blue also stated that the program would be shuttered for at least two years.
They added that the “decision reflects Blue Origin’s commitment to the nation’s goal of returning to the Moon and establishing a permanent, sustained lunar presence.”
Specifics of the “resource shift” have not been released publicly at this time. Blue Origin’s lunar efforts are primarily located on Merritt Island and in Kent, Washington, while the bulk of the New Shepard effort is in Van Horn, Texas.
There will be much more to come from this story, stay tuned.
Blue Origin is picking up the pace in Cape Canaveral. The company announced today that the next flight of New Glenn (NG-3) is scheduled for NET late February. NG-2, New Glenn’s second flight, launched on November 13, 2025 on a wholly successful mission to launch two NASA satellites to Mars. NG-3 will come within 4 months of that.
Blue is planning to use the same New Glenn booster as it did with NG-2 — “Never Tell Me The Odds.” That booster landed on Blue Origin’s recovery ship “Jacklyn” after its debut flight, and Blue Origin engineers must feel confident enough in the refurbishment and flight preparation for NTMTO that the company can schedule a target date for its next flight. This flight will mark the first re-use of a New Glenn booster.
Blue Origin also announced that NG-3 will carry AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation Block 2 BlueBird satellite to low Earth orbit.
AST SpaceMobile selected Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket in November 2024 to launch satellites for its Bluebird cellular broadband network. The constellation will serve both commercial and government telecommunications markets, providing seamless connectivity as mobile devices transition between ground-based cellular towers and space-based coverage—delivering broadband access anywhere on Earth.
“We’re proud to have AST SpaceMobile as our customer on NG-3,” said Dave Limp, CEO, Blue Origin in a press release announcing the flight timeline. “Our customers need a reliable, cost-effective launch vehicle, and New Glenn is purpose-built to serve their needs.”
Former ULA leader Tory Bruno has joined Blue Origin and will head a new division, the National Security Group. He will report to CEO Dave Limp. The move comes three days after United Launch Alliance announced Bruno’s departure as its chief executive.
Bruno gave his most extensive comments to date on leaving ULA and taking on the new role at Blue Origin:
Specific details of Blue Origin’s plans for the new group have not been announced. It’s reasonable to say that, with New Glenn now in operation, they will first focus on completing their NSSL certification, followed by securing contracts for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program.
The gating item for Blue Origin is gaining NSSL certification. All signs point to Blue choosing a four-launch qualification cycle, and with two New Glenn launches completed in 2025, Blue Origin is likely to have the needed launches under their belt next year in 2026.
That began in 2022 when the U.S. Space Force approved Blue Origin’s New Entrant Certification plan. Launch providers can choose among four certification tracks, each with different flight requirements—ranging from 2 to 14—and varying levels of government technical oversight. Fewer flights mean more governmental scrutiny.
Certification Flights like NG-2 are just one part of the broader certification framework. They provide critical data to confirm that the launch system is mission-ready, helping ensure U.S. satellites that support both warfighters and intelligence operations are launched reliably and securely.
SSC took another key step in certifying Blue Origin’s New Glenn for National Security Space Launches (NSSL) following the successful NG-2 mission on November 13th from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SSC, one of the U.S. Space Force’s three field commands, manages a $15.6 billion annual budget focused on acquiring, developing, and deploying space capabilities that maintain U.S. dominance in orbit and beyond.
The U.S. Space Force’s Assured Access to Space (AATS) Certification Team from System Delta 80 (SYD 80) was on-site to observe the rocket’s second flight, a requirement under Blue Origin’s certification process with the NSSL program. SYD 80 oversees the program in coordination with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), jointly responsible for launch services supporting national defense and intelligence missions.
“This launch marks a major milestone,” said Lt. Col. Brian Scheller, SSC’s system program manager and chief engineer for SYD 80. “New Glenn is getting closer to supporting our highest-priority space missions.”
Scheller nor SSC gave any additional insight regarding Blue Origin’s position in the certification process, but it is likely that the company took another major step forward with yesterday’s successful launch.
NSSL payloads are generally high-value assets not only in terms of cost but also in the time required to construct them. If the payload is lost, then the asset must be replaced, something that takes time — time that the original was not on station, contributing to the nation’s defense.
System Delta 80 plays a key role in the Space Force’s mission of assured access to space. It conducts launch and range operations alongside the 30th and 45th Space Launch Deltas and maintains essential test and launch infrastructure. These efforts support national goals in defense, science, and industry.
With an experienced leader of the caliber of Tory Bruno at the helm of Blue Origin’s national defense efforts, expect them to assume an essential role in highly lucrative NSSL launches over the next few years.
On November 18, 2025, Blue Origin filed a request to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to allow water discharges into the Indian River Lagoon, an environmentally sensitive area that is in a poor state after years of being polluted by industrial, governmental and even domestic sources.
Much has been made of this request in social media, but it seems like very few people have actually read the documents to see what is being asked.
That document is below, along with a factual summary of the information contained inside.
DEP issued a Notice of Draft Permit (published Nov. 18, 2025) for Blue Origin to operate an industrial wastewater treatment facility at its Blue Origin OLS Manufacturing Complex located on Space Commerce Way on Merritt Island.
The draft permit (file FL0A00007-002-IW7A) would authorize up to 0.49 million gallons per day (MGD) of treatment, with planned discharges of 0.467 MGD of process wastewater and 0.015 MGD of non-process wastewater into a large onsite stormwater pond (about 402,981 sq ft), which then flows to the Indian River.
The DEP document summarizes the wastewater treatment as:
Blue Origin’s site uses a centralized purified-water system to support component testing and cleaning operations across multiple buildings. Soft water from Building A is further treated in Building D’s Water Room using carbon filtration and reverse osmosis, then pumped to points of use in Buildings D, B, and G.
After use (mainly for tank proofing and rinsing), wastewater from Buildings D and G is routed back to Building D’s discharge manifold and then to the storm sewer system and an onsite stormwater pond; Building G returns via a dedicated wet well/pump system, while Building B has no return flow path.
The project proposes adding a continuous flow meter and an integrated, flow-proportional sampler (IW-1) at Building D’s discharge manifold to continuously measure discharge and collect representative samples before the water reaches the retention pond and ultimately the Ransom Road Ditch.
A major intermittent discharge source is periodic carbon-filter rinsing, storage tank dumps, and line purges done for preventative maintenance to reduce bacterial growth—also routed through IW-1.
Separately, Building A’s chiller plant cooling towers periodically “blow down” mineral-laden water to control solids buildup from evaporation. That cooling-tower blowdown would be discharged for surface-water disposal (IW-2) to the retention pond and then to the outfall toward the Ransom Road Ditch, rather than to the sanitary sewer.
The facility would discharge treated/conditioned wastewater to an existing large onsite retention pond (about 402,981 square feet) to provide dilution before the water ultimately flows to the Ransom Road Ditch, classified as Class II waters.
D-001 (existing outfall): permitted for up to 0.467 MGD daily maximum flow; the ditch segment described is about 48 feet long, with discharge at approximately 0 feet depth; location near 28°30’42″N, 80°40’51″W.
D-002 (new outfall): permitted for up to 0.015 MGD daily maximum flow; the ditch segment described is about 4 feet long, also discharging at approximately 0 feet depth; location near 28°30’36″N, 80°40’42″W.
Paraphrasal of FL0A00007-002-IW7A
Also contained in the document are prohibitions:
| The discharge shall not contain components that, alone or in combination with other substances or in combination with other components of the discharge: | |
|---|---|
| Item | Prohibited Condition |
| a. | Settle to form putrescent deposits or otherwise create a nuisance |
| b. | Float as debris, scum, oil, or other matter in such amounts as to form nuisances |
| c. | Produce color, odor, taste, turbidity, or other conditions in such degree as to create a nuisance |
| d. | Are acutely toxic |
| e. | Are present in concentrations which are carcinogenic, mutagenic, or teratogenic to human beings or to significant, locally occurring, wildlife or aquatic species, unless specific standards are established for such components in subsection 62-302.500(2) or Rule 62-302.530, F.A.C. |
| f. | Pose a serious danger to the public health, safety, or welfare |
| Reference: Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.) | |
The document calls for the following limits and monitoring activities:
| Parameter | Units | Effluent Limitations | Monitoring Requirements | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max./Min. | Limit | Statistical Basis | Frequency of Analysis | Sample Type | ||
| Flow | MGD | Max Max |
0.49 Report |
Daily Maximum Annual Average |
Daily, when discharging | Meter |
| pH | s.u. | Min Max |
6 9 |
Monthly Average Monthly Average |
Daily, when discharging | Grab |
| Oil and Grease | mg/L | Max | 5.0 | Daily Maximum | Daily, when discharging | 8-hr FPC |
| Nitrogen, Total | mg/L | Max | 3.0 | Annual Average | Quarterly | 8-hr FPC |
| Phosphorus, Total (as P) | mg/L | Max | 1.0 | Annual Average | Quarterly | 8-hr FPC |
| Units: MGD = Million Gallons per Day | s.u. = Standard Units (pH scale) | mg/L = Milligrams per Liter | 8-hr FPC = 8-Hour Flow Proportional Composite | ||||||
DEP says it intends to issue the permit unless public comments lead to changes. The application and supporting materials can be reviewed at DEP’s Central District Office in Orlando during business hours.
Anyone interested may submit written comments or request a public meeting (with specific required information) to the DEP contact listed in the notice. For most people, the deadline to comment or request a meeting is within 30 days of publication (i.e., Dec. 18, 2025,
30 days from Nov. 18, 2025), and if a public meeting is held, the comment period runs until the meeting closes.
It has been a big week for Blue Origin, first with the second launch of New Glenn, the successful landing of the first stage. As they were moving the first stage of last week’s New Glenn flight, the company casually made three major announcements today in one press release: a new, supersized New Glenn for megapayloads, ramping up the power output of its BE-4 and BE-3U engine used on the second stage of the current New Glenn, as well as the 9X4. It might be a while for the megarocket to be on the launch pad, but the engine advancements start arriving on the next New Glenn flight, NG-3.
The first major upgrade is a boost in engine performance across both stages. The seven BE 4 engines on the booster will now deliver about 4.5 million pounds of thrust, up from 3.9 million. On the stand, BE 4 has already hit 625,000 pounds of thrust with its current propellant setup and is on track to reach 640,000 later this year. Subcooling the propellant raises the engine’s output well above its previous 550,000 pound level.
The upper stage is getting a similar lift. Its pair of BE 3U engines will move from a planned 320,000 pounds of thrust to roughly 400,000 over the next few flights. BE 3U has already shown 211,658 pounds on the test stand.
These performance gains directly support customers already booked to fly on New Glenn to low Earth orbit, the Moon, and farther than that. Other vehicle updates include a reusable fairing for a higher flight tempo, a redesigned tank that lowers manufacturing cost, and a new thermal protection system that can be reused and cuts turnaround time.
Blue Origin said in their press release today that the improvements and upgrades will be phased into upcoming New Glenn missions beginning with NG-3.
The next significant step in the evolution of the New Glenn program is a new super-heavy rocket. Called New Glenn 9×4, a nod to the engine layout on each stage, it targets missions that need more lift and higher performance. It can place more than 70 metric tons into low Earth orbit, over 14 metric tons directly into geosynchronous orbit, and more than 20 metric tons on a translunar trajectory. The 9×4 will also carry a wider 8.7 meter fairing.
Both the 9×4 and the current 7×2 version will operate in parallel, giving customers more flexibility across mission types, from mega-constellations to lunar and deep space work to national security needs such as Golden Dome or larger NSSL payloads.
Presumably, the new variant will also be built at Blue Origin’s factory in Exploration Park across from the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Center.
No mission or date for the upgraded rocket was given.
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.
Overnight, the FAA announced that it had terminated its emergency orders reducing plane flights as well as commercial space launch hours.
The following restrictions will also end:
Limits on some general aviation operations at 12 airports
Limits on some visual flight rule approaches at facilities with staffing triggers
Limits on commercial space launches and reentries to the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. local time
Limits on parachute operations and photo missions near facilities with staffing triggers
Only three days earlier, on November 13, the FAA had “made permanent” the rules it rescinded yesterday.
“Today’s decision to rescind the order reflects the steady decline in staffing concerns across the NAS and allows us to return to normal operations,” said FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford. “I am grateful for the hard work of the FAA safety and operations teams and for their focus on the safety of the traveling public.”
The rescission of the emergency order is good news for all launch services companies, but especially for SpaceX. They have a high cadence of Starlink launches on both coasts, and while they usually launch in the late hours of the evening or early hours overnight, there are many times when orbital mechanics demand a launch between 6am and 10pm — the hours formerly restricted.
Tomorrow’s Starlink launch, for example. The launch window opens at 6:29 PM ET, and extends until 10:29 PM ET the same day. While SpaceX could have waited until 10 PM to launch Starlink 6-94, they would undoubtedly prefer to have the ability launch earlier legally.
| Organization | SpaceX |
| Location | Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 |
| Pad | Space Launch Complex 40 |
| Status | Go for Launch |
| Status Info | Current T-0 confirmed by official or reliable sources. |
| Window Opens | Tuesday, 11/18/2025 6:29:00 PM |
| Window Closes | Tuesday, 11/18/2025 10:29:00 PM |
| Destination | Low Earth Orbit |
| Mission Description | A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation – SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system. |
Now they can.
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.
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:
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.
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,
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.
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.”
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.
My other shots from this launch are here: Blue Origin, New Glenn, January 16, 2025.
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