Blue Origin retargets for Thursday afternoon launch of New Glenn

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Nov 13, 2025

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After scrubs Sunday and Wednesday for weather issues both on and off-planet, Blue Origin is retargeting the launch of its New Glenn rocket for Thursday afternoon.

The heavy-lift rocket its attempting to make its second launch ever solidifying Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company in its competition with the likes of SpaceX and United Launch Alliance.

It looks to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36 during a launch window that runs from 2:57-4:25 p.m.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts a better than 95% chance for good conditions at the launch site, but lists solar activity as high, meaning the space weather from solar flares is once again a concern for a scrub.

That was the reason behind Wednesday’s call off as NASA was concerned on the effects of the solar wind on its payload, a pair of Mars-bound satellites. A Sunday attempt was stymied by bad weather at the launch site.

On a mission called ESCAPADE, which stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, the twin spacecraft dubbed Blue and Gold were built by fellow aerospace company Rocket Lab for NASA and the University of California Berkeley’s Space Science Laboratory.

They were originally aiming to launch in late 2024 and would have had an 11-month trip to Mars. Now, though, they’re heading up to what’s essentially a parking spot in space called Lagrange Point 2 about 1 million miles away that allows them to sit and wait for Earth and Mars to get back to a reasonable distance apart before heading on their interplanetary way next year.

Once they get there, they will orbit Mars and observe plasma and magnetic fields around the planet to help understand what processes strip atoms from Mars’ magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. That could help explain why Mars’ atmosphere is so thin, and how it may have evolved over time.

“Our number one objective is to deliver ESCAPADE safely and successfully on its way to (Lagrange Point 2) and then eventually on to Mars,” said Laura Maginnis, Blue Origin New Glenn vice president of mission management. “We also are planning — wanting to land our booster. If we don’t land the booster, that’s OK. We have several more vehicles in production.”

The booster landing is something New Glenn was not able to accomplish on its first mission back in January.

Similar to how SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket boosters are recovered, Blue Origin has designed its New Glenn rocket boosters to land downrange in the Atlantic, aiming for recovery on board the vessel Jacklyn, named after company founder Bezos’ mother.

The boosters are designed for 25 reflights.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rockets are manufactured at nearby Merritt Island, then rolled over to LC-36, which underwent a multiyear, $1 billion dollar revamp. It held up well after the first launch, Maginnis said.

“The pad actually looked really good. We didn’t see any significant issues. We’ve got a great water suppression system out there, acoustic suppression system and overall facility looks good,” she said. “Everything was pretty smooth, so it wasn’t a significant amount of work to do there.”

She said the company plans to increase its launch rate in 2026, but didn’t say when the next launch would be.

“Looking forward to demonstrating that a key element of that, of course, it’ll be the turnaround of our GS-1 (the first stage) booster, as well as a number of other boosters that we’re bringing online,” she said. “So those will be supporting higher cadence in 2026 and beyond.”

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