FAA Grants Blue Origin License for Initial Launch of New Glenn Rocket
Blue Origin has received a license from the FAA for the upcoming launch of its inaugural New Glenn rocket.
TroibNews 
On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that it has granted a commercial space launch license for Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, the venture founded by Jeff Bezos.
This marks a significant entry for Blue Origin into a competitive field, as the U.S. Department of Defense has selected the company—alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX and the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture known as United Launch Alliance—to vie for national security space missions.
In June, the Pentagon had made initial selections under a $5.6 billion program.
The five-year license permits Blue Origin to carry out orbital missions from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The reusable first stage of New Glenn is designed to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, as noted in an FAA statement.
The inaugural New Glenn flight will serve as a certification mission required by the U.S. Space Force before Blue Origin can start launching satellites for national security purposes.
Originally, this debut mission was scheduled to send two NASA spacecraft to Mars before the end of October. However, with New Glenn not ready for deployment at that time, NASA decided to reassign the spacecraft away from the rocket.
In place of the Mars mission, New Glenn will launch technology associated with its Blue Ring program, which aims to provide maneuverable spacecraft to the Pentagon.
SpaceX has maintained its lead in the launch market with its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket and is currently testing its fully reusable next-generation rocket, Starship. In an October flight test, Starship’s first-stage booster successfully returned to its launch pad in Texas after reaching the edge of space.
Conversely, Blue Origin has faced challenges in bringing its New Glenn rocket to market. To accelerate the development process, the company appointed Amazon veteran Dave Limp in December of last year.
Lucas Dupont contributed to this report for TROIB News
This marks a significant entry for Blue Origin into a competitive field, as the U.S. Department of Defense has selected the company—alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX and the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture known as United Launch Alliance—to vie for national security space missions.
In June, the Pentagon had made initial selections under a $5.6 billion program.
The five-year license permits Blue Origin to carry out orbital missions from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The reusable first stage of New Glenn is designed to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, as noted in an FAA statement.
The inaugural New Glenn flight will serve as a certification mission required by the U.S. Space Force before Blue Origin can start launching satellites for national security purposes.
Originally, this debut mission was scheduled to send two NASA spacecraft to Mars before the end of October. However, with New Glenn not ready for deployment at that time, NASA decided to reassign the spacecraft away from the rocket.
In place of the Mars mission, New Glenn will launch technology associated with its Blue Ring program, which aims to provide maneuverable spacecraft to the Pentagon.
SpaceX has maintained its lead in the launch market with its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket and is currently testing its fully reusable next-generation rocket, Starship. In an October flight test, Starship’s first-stage booster successfully returned to its launch pad in Texas after reaching the edge of space.
Conversely, Blue Origin has faced challenges in bringing its New Glenn rocket to market. To accelerate the development process, the company appointed Amazon veteran Dave Limp in December of last year.
Lucas Dupont contributed to this report for TROIB News
