Blue Origin’s New Glenn
Blue Origin, led by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, is currently working on a heavy-lift launcher called New Glenn. The company has been using its New Shepard rocket to launch paying customers to suborbital space, but New Glenn isn’t quite ready for prime time, nor will it be until at least 2023. Named after NASA astronaut John Glenn, the rocket will feature a reusable first stage that’s designed to last for 25 missions. The rocket will be powered by seven BE-4 engines and be capable of lifting 45 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) and 13 tons to GEO. The “single configuration heavy-lift launch vehicle” is being designed to carry “people and payloads routinely to Earth orbit and beyond,” according to Blue Origin.
