Blue Origin

SpaceX is once again facing a setback in getting its Starship rocket closer to being operational. Meanwhile, Blue Origin is taking slow but steady steps toward having a capable Mark 1 lunar lander. Would NASA be silly not to switch providers for Artemis 3’s lander?

The new year is right around the corner, and with that come new goals, records, and the arrival of new players in the space realm. The most promising to shake things up, Blue Origin, is just now making its new-space prime entrance. What does 2026 have in store for its big rocket, the New Glenn?

Yesterday, Blue Origin successfully launched its second New Glenn rocket from LC-36 in Florida. While a second successful mission is enough to celebrate, what happened at the end of the mission is bigger news for the company and the industry.

For most of the nation last night, the Northern Lights, or officially named the Aurora Borealis, were visible in an awesome display. This is due to a powerful solar storm coming from our Sun; however, that same storm that’s causing the beautiful nighttime display is also causing issues for the space industry who are trying to get rockets launched.

After an hour and a half attempt, Blue Origin scrubbed its New Glenn NG-2 mission due to weather concerns. It wasn’t the only issue the company ran into during the countdown, but why did weather specifically cause the delay? And when will it launch again?

Blue Origin may just have a shot at taking away SpaceX’s prized Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing, as the company has fallen behind its goals to get an HLS Starship variant ready for a 2027 attempt. Now NASA is looking at new options that may be able to get a lander ready faster.

With New Shepard back in service, New Glenn preparing for another flight, and lunar systems advancing, Blue Origin heads into late 2025 with progress on multiple fronts. The company is simultaneously running programs in suborbital tourism, orbital launch, propulsion, and lunar vehicle development, together outlining a transportation architecture that spans Earth orbit to cislunar space.

This week Blue Origin launched its NS-31 mission carrying a crew of six above the Karman Line for a short 11-minute flight. The flight was historic for being the first all-female spaceflight since 1963 and was marketed as a feminist movement, but some have doubts it did anything. So, are PR stunt suborbital spaceflights getting old? Or is it just Blue Origin’s take on them?

After lobbying the option into existence, Blue Origin has finally been awarded launches under the Space Force‘s National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 2 contract. The New Glenn has only launched once so far, and we’re still awaiting word on when and what the rocket’s second launch will be.

After being first reported over two years ago, Blue Origin has finally released details on its first all-female New Shepard mission, commanded by helicopter pilot, entrepreneur, and girlfriend of Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez.

Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, has announced a 10% reduction in its workforce, affecting approximately 1,400 employees across its Florida, Texas, and Washington facilities. The layoffs, disclosed February 13, signal a strategic shift for the company as it moves away from heavy research and development and focuses on scaling up production of its New Glenn rocket and other key projects. 

Tuesday morning, Blue Origin launches its 29th New Shepard mission from West Texas. While the missions have become rather mundane, this time the company was able to spin the capsule up to simulate lunar gravity for the payloads it carried.

A recent Space Capital report states that the massive defense primes of Boeing and Airbus could divest themselves of space entirely. Given the new administration’s wish to potentially sack SLS, could companies like Boeing be out of space entirely?

Check out this week’s podcast.

We finally saw the debut launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket last week. We also saw the first of many Starship flights of 2025. While both were considered flight data-gathering missions, one seems a little more successful than the other, and spoiler, it wasn’t SpaceX.

Checkout the podcast version of Terminal Count here.

After several days of delays due to technical issues and weather, Blue Origin successfully lifted off with its new heavy-lift rocket, New Glenn, from Florida and entered an orbit around Earth. With data gathering as its only goal, Blue Origin has gathered plenty on both the booster and upper stage.

Blue Origin will make its third attempt to launch its first New Glenn rocket no earlier than 1:00 A.M. ET Thursday. With weather once again a concern, we’ll have to see if we get into the countdown or if the company will pull the plug early this evening.

Update: Blue Origin sends first New Glenn rocket into orbit

SpaceX announced it will be delaying Starship Flight 7 due to poor weather in the area. They are not the only ones dealing with weather concerns this week either. Starship is now set to launch no earlier than January 16 at 4:00 p.m. CT.

Update: Starship Flight 7: SpaceX makes second booster catch, Block 2 Starship loss during ascent

Monday and Tuesday morning, Blue Origin made two attempts to launch its New Glenn rocket on its inaugural mission. However, neither ended with the rocket leaving the launch pad, so why did they scrub?

Last night Blue Origin scrubbed its attempt to launch its first New Glenn rocket. The company announced it will be reattempting to launch the rocket during tonight’s window of the same time. Weather, however, is currently at 70% chance of violation, potentially adding to another delay past Wednesday.

Update: Blue Origin announced a delay to January 16.

Last night, or early this morning, Blue Origin scrubbed its first New Glenn launch attempt after about two hours of troubleshooting problems and takes the cake for arguably the worst launch stream ever produced. Also taking place this week, Sierra Space‘s CEO departed the company without any previous announcement or reason, sparking speculation.

Checkout the podcast version of Terminal Count here.