New Glenn
Blue Origin · Earth orbit
Blue Origin's heavy lifter has flown three times and landed its booster twice, but lost the next vehicle in a May pad explosion. Flight four has no announced date.
At a glance
- Phase
- testing
- Operator
- Blue Origin
- Destination
- Earth orbit
- Next milestone
- Return to flight, no date announced; Blue Origin said modified valve hardware would be ready by the end of August 2026
- Last verified
- 22 August 2026
Where it stands
In flight test; grounded since the 28 May 2026 pad explosion, traced by Blue Origin to a BE-4 main oxygen valve.
The mission
New Glenn's debut on 16 January 2025 reached orbit but lost the booster on landing. The second flight, on 13 November 2025, carried NASA's ESCAPADE spacecraft towards Mars and achieved the first successful booster landing; the third, on 19 April 2026, reused and landed that booster again, but the FAA's closure statement records a cryogenic leak that froze a hydraulic line and caused a second-stage thrust anomaly, leaving the AST SpaceMobile payload in the wrong orbit. On 28 May 2026 the next vehicle was destroyed in a hotfire test explosion at Launch Complex 36. On 5 August 2026 chief executive Dave Limp said the anomaly originated at the main oxygen valve on one of the BE-4 engines, confirmed by hardware recovery and inspections, with modified valve hardware ready by the end of that month; the company has announced no return-to-flight date.
Latest reporting
Related
Sources
- FAA statement on the New Glenn-3 mishap closure · https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/statements/general-statements
- Blue Origin on the hotfire anomaly · https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2060172114796204539
- Dave Limp, Blue Origin chief executive, on the engine valve finding · https://x.com/davill/status/2085074404627915059