Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has landed safely in space for the second time

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has completed its second flight, The Washington Post reports. The rocket launched Thursday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and successfully separated from the first stage booster, which later landed on a sea platform Blue Origin calls “Jacklyn.”

The launch marks the first time the space startup has been able to capture a New Glenn booster for later reuse. The first flight of the rocket in January was successful in launching New Glenn into space, but Blue Origin couldn’t rescue the booster from a watery grave. The company hoped to launch its second New Glenn mission on November 9, but… canceled it last minute due to the weather.

New Glenn’s second mission is also notable for its payload: the rocket was transferred NASA satellites to space intended for Mars as part of the agency ESCAPADE mission. Given SpaceX’s close relationship with NASA, Blue Origin’s partnership with the agency could be an important vote of confidence.

It could also mean that New Glenn is well-positioned to help another company founded by Jeff Bezos accelerate its satellite plans. The mail writes that Blue Origin has an existing agreement with Amazon to launch the newly revamped brand name Amazon Lion satellites into space. Leo is positioned as a competitor to Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service.

While SpaceX is ready many more launches with its Starship rocket than Blue Origin has, it has also had more than a few explosive failures en route. Blue Origin still needs more missions, but if it can repeat its success with New Glenn, it could prove to be a threat to SpaceX.