Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, is preparing for the debut launch of its New Glenn rocket on Sunday, marking a significant step toward competing with SpaceX’s dominance in spaceflight. The New Glenn, a towering 30-story rocket, represents Blue Origin’s decade-long, multibillion-dollar investment into the burgeoning satellite constellation market, aiming to challenge SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which has been the backbone of many satellite missions.
New Glenn’s success would set the stage for Amazon’s Kuiper broadband internet satellite constellation, positioning it as a competitor to SpaceX’s Starlink network. For Blue Origin, this is a pivotal moment, as the company has yet to send anything into orbit since its founding 25 years ago. Although it has successfully launched and landed the smaller New Shepard rocket, this launch marks its first attempt at Earth orbit.
Scheduled for 1 a.m. ET (0600 GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, New Glenn will carry its first payload—a Blue Ring satellite designed for satellite servicing and national security. The rocket is more powerful than the Falcon 9, with a larger payload capacity, although it still lags behind SpaceX’s Starship, which is under development for larger and more ambitious missions.
Blue Origin has secured several satellite contracts, including with Eutelsat’s OneWeb, Telesat, and AST SpaceMobile, positioning New Glenn in a strong market for satellite constellations. The rocket’s reusable core stage will also make its first landing attempt on a drone ship, mimicking SpaceX’s reusability success.
Despite delays and leadership changes over the years, Blue Origin is now fully focused on New Glenn’s success, with CEO Dave Limp pushing for a fast-paced launch schedule. The launch is critical not only for competition but also as a certification flight for the U.S. Space Force, which could lead to lucrative national security payload contracts in the coming year.