Blue Origin’s heavy-lift New Glenn rocket completed its third flight on Sunday, achieving a historic milestone by successfully reflighting an orbital-class booster. However, the mission ended with a setback after the upper stage failed, casting a shadow over the rocket’s future in NASA’s Artemis lunar program.
The 321-foot-tall (98-meter) New Glenn ignited its seven methane-fueled BE-4 engines at 7:25 am EDT (11:25 UTC) on Sunday. The launch began with a slow climb from its pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Each BE-4 engine produced over half a million pounds of thrust, accelerating the rocket past the speed of sound in approximately 90 seconds. Three minutes into the flight, the booster shut down its engines and separated from the New Glenn’s upper stage, which was powered by two BE-3U engines burning a mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
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