Blue Origin announced that its New Glenn rocket successfully landed its booster after launch on Sunday, marking the first touchdown of a reused booster and sharpening competition with SpaceX.
The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at about 7:25 a.m. ET within its scheduled window, with the booster returning to Earth roughly 10 minutes later.
New Glenn carried AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite into low-Earth orbit, marking a significant milestone for both companies. The mission demonstrated the rocket’s ability to reuse boosters—an essential feature for competing with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
The booster, named “Never Tell Me the Odds” (a reference to Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back), had previously flown on a November mission and was recovered, paving the way for this successful reuse attempt.
This launch follows earlier delays and comes amid heightened activity in the space industry, including NASA’s Artemis program, which recently pushed human spaceflight farther from Earth than ever before.
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New Glenn is built for high-end commercial launches, featuring a large payload capacity capable of carrying multiple satellites. According to company officials, it is designed with a long-term vision for the future of space exploration.
BlueBird 7 is part of AST SpaceMobile’s next-generation satellite network aimed at providing direct-to-smartphone connectivity from space, similar to projects like SpaceX’s Starlink.
The successful landing highlights Blue Origin’s progress in closing the gap with SpaceX, as both companies compete to support future lunar missions under NASA’s Artemis program. While SpaceX is developing its Starship-based landing system, Blue Origin is working on its Blue Moon lander, targeting a key uncrewed lunar landing later this year.