
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Blue Origin's powerful New Glenn rocket had a very big day on Thursday (Nov. 13), and a new video lets us all relive part of it.
New Glenn launched for the second time ever on Thursday afternoon, successfully sending NASA's twin ESCAPADE Mars probes into the final frontier from Florida's Space Coast.
But that wasn't all. The two-stage rocket's huge first stage came back to Earth as planned, acing a landing on "Jacklyn," Blue Origin's drone ship, which was stationed about 375 miles (604 kilometers) offshore.
Previously, only one company had ever pulled off this dramatic maneuver — SpaceX, which has pioneered the recovery and reuse of orbital rockets.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos celebrated the New Glenn landing on X, posting several videos of the 188-foot-tall (57 meters) booster steering its way through the sky toward Jacklyn.
One video showed the landing itself, during which the booster sidled over to Jacklyn rather than drop directly onto it from above.
"We nominally target a few hundred feet away from Jacklyn to avoid a severe impact if engines fail to start or start slowly," Bezos wrote in the Friday morning (Nov. 14) X post that featured this video. "We’ll incrementally reduce that conservatism over time. We are all excited and grateful for yesterday. Amazing performance by the team! Gradatim Ferociter."
(Gradatim Ferociter, Latin for "Step by Step, Ferociously," is Blue Origin's motto.)
Blue Origin named the first stage that flew on Thursday "Never Tell Me the Odds," a nod to the perceived improbability of a successful touchdown.
"It turns out 'Never Tell Me The Odds' had perfect odds — never before in history has a booster this large nailed the landing on the second try," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a company statement. "This is just the beginning as we rapidly scale our flight cadence and continue delivering for our customers."
Each New Glenn first stage is designed to fly at least 25 times, according to Blue Origin. "Never Tell Me the Odds" looks intact — startlingly clean, in fact — in post-landing photos, so don't be surprised to see the booster on the pad again before too much longer.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
Doomed SpaceX Starlink satellite photographed from orbit - 2
Dominating Capable Mastercard Utilization: Key Contemplations - 3
Eco-Accommodating Kitchen Machines: 4 Picks for a Manageable Home - 4
Travel Through France's Most Iconic Wine Regions By Train On An Immersive Seven-Day Journey - 5
NASA astronauts to return from space early due to an 'unexpected medical issue.' What happened — and when are they coming home?
Key takeaways from Sen. Bill Cassidy's interview on 'Face the Nation' with Margaret Brennan
Bullets in Luigi Mangione’s bag convinced police that he was UnitedHealthcare CEO killing suspect
Lilly, Novo lock horns in India's obesity drug race
Best Food Truck Cooking: Decision in favor of Your Number one!
Bolsonaro says hallucinatory effects of meds made him tamper with ankle tag
The next frontier in space is closer than you think – welcome to the world of very low Earth orbit satellites
Sentimental tree to shine at Arctic League annual broadcast
One perk to marrying Richard Marx later in life? 'We don't have time' for stupid arguments, says Daisy Fuentes.
Scientists dove hundreds of feet into the ocean and found creatures no human has ever seen. Our trash beat us there













