Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Prepares to Launch New Glenn Rocket: Live Updates

Jan. 12, 2025, 11:30 p.m. ETWhen upright, the New Glenn is 320 feet tall. At liftoff, nearly four million pounds of thrust spew from its seven booster engines. But it is not the largest rocket.Credit…Blue OriginIn many ways, New Glenn is just a big rocket.It is 320 feet tall. That is a bit higher than the Statue of Liberty and its base. At liftoff, nearly four million pounds of thrust spewing from seven booster engines will push the rocket upward. Its voluminous nose cone, 23 feet wide in diameter, will be able to hold payloads that are physically larger than other rockets in operation today.New Glenn, however, is not the biggest rocket. NASA’s Space Launch System and SpaceX’s Starship are both taller and more powerful. The Blue Origin rocket does not rely on never-before-seen, whiz-bang technologies. It is not fully reusable, unlike what SpaceX is trying to make possible with Starship.

Relative size of the
Space Shuttle

In terms of technology, New Glenn is similar to but bigger than the Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX’s current workhorse. The booster stage of New Glenn — the most expensive part of the rocket — is designed to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, similar to how SpaceX recovers Falcon 9 boosters. The second stage, like those of almost all rockets in use today, will be discarded and burn up in the atmosphere.But if New Glenn proves to be reliable and affordable, it should be able to carve out a profitable slice of the business of launching payloads to space for NASA, the Department of Defense and commercial companies.Show more