Blue Origin achieves first landing of reused New Glenn rocket booster

Blue Origin on Sunday said its New Glenn rocket booster touched down after its launch, marking its first landing of a reused booster.

New Glenn carries ‌AST ⁠SpaceMobile's BlueBird ⁠7 satellite to low-Earth orbit in a flight that marks a pivotal step for the Jeff Bezos-led company.

The mission was key in showing that New Glenn, a 29-story ⁠heavy-lift rocket, ‌has a reliable booster reuse capability and can compete ⁠with Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.


The rocket's booster, "Never Tell Me the Odds," previously flew on the NG-2 mission in November and was recovered, setting up this week's milestone attempt.

The booster's name ‌is a nod to Han Solo's line in the film 'Star Wars: The ⁠Empire Strikes Back.'

Following a series of delays earlier this month, the mission comes amid a surge of activity in the space sector, including a successful NASA Artemis II lunar flyby.