Competing with Musk on Low Costs: Blue Origin to Launch Using Recovered Booster for the First Time
Blue Origin, founded by Jeff Bezos, is set to launch its New Glenn rocket using a reused booster for the first time, intensifying its competition with SpaceX.
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- 📰 Published: April 19, 2026 at 13:00
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According to AFP, this novel approach comes at a time of fierce competition between Bezos's company and tech giant Elon Musk's SpaceX. If the launch is successful tomorrow, it will help increase Blue Origin's future launch frequency and lower costs.
The nearly 100-meter-tall New Glenn rocket is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, between 6:45 AM and 8:45 AM local time. This mission will carry a communications satellite for the telecom operator AST SpaceMobile.
Blue Origin has launched the New Glenn rocket twice before, but entirely new rocket boosters were used on both occasions.
Although Blue Origin has past experience in reusing components, that was with the much smaller and technically less demanding New Shepard rocket, which is primarily used for suborbital space tourism.
Last November, Blue Origin successfully recovered a New Glenn rocket booster for the first time, completing this highly complex technical challenge and ultimately achieving a vertical landing on the deck of a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. (Translated by Chen Yu-ting) 1150419
The nearly 100-meter-tall New Glenn rocket is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, between 6:45 AM and 8:45 AM local time. This mission will carry a communications satellite for the telecom operator AST SpaceMobile.
Blue Origin has launched the New Glenn rocket twice before, but entirely new rocket boosters were used on both occasions.
Although Blue Origin has past experience in reusing components, that was with the much smaller and technically less demanding New Shepard rocket, which is primarily used for suborbital space tourism.
Last November, Blue Origin successfully recovered a New Glenn rocket booster for the first time, completing this highly complex technical challenge and ultimately achieving a vertical landing on the deck of a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. (Translated by Chen Yu-ting) 1150419