Blue Origin Joins SpaceX in Orbital Booster Reuse Era With New Glenn’s Successful Launch and Landing

On November 13, 2025, the massive New Glenn rocket of Blue Origin took off successfully at Cape Canaveral in Florida and took the NASA twin ESCAPADE probes to Mars, and made history when its first-stage booster landed on the ocean recovery ship Jacklyn. It is the second flight of New Glenn (following an initial launch in January 2025) and the second company, after SpaceX, to land a booster of orbital class.

Mars ESCAPADE Mission

According to NASA, the ESCAPADE mission (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) comprises two small satellites, manufactured by Rocket Lab, to investigate the way the solar wind removes the atmosphere of Mars. ESCAPADE is the first Mars mission by NASA in over five years at a cost of less than 80 million dollars. The probes were launched by the New Glenn rocket an estimated 33.5 minutes into the flight and were on a 22-month flight to the planet Mars, just as the mission had planned. The two spacecrafts will examine the interaction between the solar wind and the weak magnetic field of Mars and how the latter has been used to strip off its major part of the atmosphere.

New Glenn Rocket and Reusability

The New Glenn of Blue Origin is a 321-foot (98-meter) heavy-lift hydro-engine rocket propelled by seven engines that use methane-oxygen, the BE-4. It will be capable of transporting approximately 50 metric tons to low-Earth orbit, comparable to the Falcon Heavy made by SpaceX, but twice as much as the new Vulcan Centaur of ULA. The initial booster will be reusable and will be used up to 25 times. New Glenn flew in January 2025 and it also had a successful orbit, but the booster did not successfully land.