Blue Origin successfully reflew an orbital-class New Glenn booster for the first time on Sunday, but the mission failed when the upper stage went errant after separation.
The 321-foot rocket lifted off at 7:25 am EDT from Cape Canaveral, powered by seven BE-4 methane engines each producing over 500,000 pounds of thrust. The booster separated cleanly at the three-minute mark. The upper stage, running two BE-3U engines on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, did not complete its job. New Glenn is a core component of NASA's Artemis lunar program, which makes this upper stage failure more than a company embarrassment.
The full article is worth reading for what it reveals about the failure sequence itself, not just the outcome. Understanding where the upper stage went wrong matters for every future Artemis-dependent launch on Blue Origin's manifest.
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