Tag: Blue Origin
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Hainan Could Become the Hub of China’s Commercial Space Future
The global launch industry is entering a new phase, one defined less by whether rockets can reach orbit and more by how quickly launch capacity can scale. Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim recently pointed to a widening imbalance between the number of satellites waiting to fly and the amount of launch capacity available to carry…
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Decoding the Six Reusable Rockets Successfully Recovered Worldwide
Rocket recovery has evolved from an experimental concept into one of the defining capabilities of modern launch vehicles. By returning and potentially reusing major rocket stages, launch providers aim to reduce costs, shorten turnaround times and support a higher launch cadence. To date, six orbital-class launch vehicles worldwide—Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Starship, New Glenn, Long…
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NASA’s Astronaut Training Hub Prepares for the Post-ISS Era as Commercial Space Stations Near Reality
NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston has long served as the nerve center of American human spaceflight, training astronauts for programs ranging from Gemini and Apollo to the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS). Now, as NASA and its industry partners prepare for the eventual retirement of the ISS around 2030, the…
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Blue Origin narrowing in on root cause of catastrophic rocket accident
Blue Origin provided its first substantive update this week on the cause of the catastrophic loss of the New Glenn rocket and most of its launch pad infrastructure at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in May. The space company’s chief executive, Dave Limp, said investigative work is continuing into the anomaly that happened during a hot-fire test…
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Blue Origin Traces New Glenn Explosion to BE-4 Oxygen Valve
The disclosure came in an August 5 statement on social media from Blue Origin Chief Executive Dave Limp, the first major update on the failure investigation since the explosion. The company had previously focused its updates on the reconstruction of Launch Complex 36, the pad damaged in the incident. Limp said the anomaly originated at…
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Space Force NSSL Ceiling Hits $30B After Lane 1 Triple
Is $30 Billion Enough for the Space Force’s Launch Appetite? The US Space Force tripled the ceiling on its National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1 contract to $17 billion on Friday, July 18, 2026 — pushing the combined maximum value of NSSL Phase 3 past $30 billion when added to the Lane 2…
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NASA Artemis III Demo Will Fly Two HLS Landers in 2027
Does NASA’s 2027 Artemis III Mission Actually Land on the Moon? No — and that distinction matters enormously for anyone tracking the Artemis Program schedule. NASA’s Artemis III, currently planned for 2027, is a crewed rendezvous-and-docking demonstration in low Earth orbit and cislunar space, not a lunar surface landing. The actual crewed Moon landing is…
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NASA chief praises progress Blue Origin is making after launch failure
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said this week that Blue Origin has been putting significant resources into the cleanup of its launch pad since the explosion of its New Glenn rocket there in late May. “Blue Origin’s response to the situation is almost beyond impressive, and that’s not just a NASA assessment,” Isaacman said in response…
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Blue Origin accelerates LC-36 recovery via hybrid plan
One month after the New Glenn anomaly that severely damaged Launch Complex-36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Blue Origin has conducted an intensive cleanup and recovery effort at the site. Despite widespread predictions of a 12- to 18-month stand-down, CEO Dave Limp continues to assert that the company aims to return the vehicle to…
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Blue Origin decides not to re-create ruined pad but will move on to a different launch concept
A tarnished “Road to Space” sign stands near Blue Origin’s damaged launch pad in Florida. (Blue Origin Photo) One month after a New Glenn rocket explosion damaged its Florida launch pad, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has decided to shift its focus to a new concept for future launches. “To return to flight this…