A huge New Glenn rocket successfully took off to place two spacecraft in orbit for a later boost to the red planet
Blue Origin successfully launched its huge New Glenn rocket on Thursday with a pair of Nasa spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’s company and Nasa are counting on to ferry people and supplies to the moon.
The 321ft (98-meter) New Glenn blasted into the afternoon sky from the Cape Canaveral space force station, sending Nasa’s twin Mars orbiters on a long journey to the red planet. Liftoff was stalled for four days by inclement local weather as well as solar storms strong enough to paint the skies with auroras as far south as Florida.
In a first for the fledgling company, Blue Origin recovered the booster following its separation from the upper stage and the Mars orbiters, an essential step to recycle and slash costs similar to how SpaceX rockets work. Company employees cheered wildly as the booster landed upright on a barge 375 miles (600km) offshore. An ecstatic Bezos watched the action from launch control.
“Next stop, moon!” employees chanted following the booster’s bull’s-eye landing. Twenty minutes later, the rocket’s upper stage deployed the two Mars orbiters in space, the mission’s main objective.
