The B-2 test stand (left) at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Credit: NASA/Danny Nowlin
WASHINGTON — Blue Origin will use NASA’s Stennis Space Center to test New Glenn upper stages as it rebuilds its Cape Canaveral launch complex.
NASA and Blue Origin announced July 24 a reimbursable Space Act Agreement giving the company access to the B-2 test stand at Stennis. Blue Origin will use the stand for testing the New Glenn second stage.
The company said the test site is part of its “comprehensive infrastructure expansion to add more test stands to hotfire our second stages to deconflict LC-36 launch operations.”
The company had performed static-fire tests of the New Glenn upper stage at Launch Complex 36. That site, though, is being rebuilt after a May 28 explosion of a New Glenn rocket during a hotfire test.
