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2w ago

Blue Origin Targets Sunday Reflight of New Glenn as SpaceX Clears Starship Static‑Fire Milestones

The milestones tighten the race to prove low-cost rocket reuse.

Blue Origin's third New Glenn rocket sits on Launch Complex 36 at dusk Tuesday, April 14, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX Starship Flight 12 in a Few Weeks Aka Early-Mid May
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket is prepared for launch with NASA's EscaPADE mission with two satellites to orbit Mars, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., November 8, 2025. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo
Pictured is a U.S. Space Force photo of the fourth and final stage of a Northrop Grumman Minotaur IV rocket being secured at Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. on March 23 for the Space Systems Command’s Space Test Program 29A (STP-S29A) launch.

Overview

  • Blue Origin’s New Glenn, which completed a roughly 20‑second hot fire on Thursday, is aiming for a Sunday, April 19 launch window pending a clean data review.
  • The NG‑3 mission will attempt to refly the recovered “Never Tell Me the Odds” first stage, with all seven BE‑4 engines replaced for this cautious reuse test.
  • The payload is AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7, a very large direct‑to‑phone satellite with a 2,400‑square‑foot antenna designed to deliver 4G and 5G broadband to standard smartphones.
  • SpaceX finished full‑duration ground firings of Starship V3’s upper stage and its 33‑engine Super Heavy on April 14–15 in Texas, with Elon Musk estimating the next flight about four to six weeks away as NASA watches for Artemis lander progress.
  • The U.S. Space Force advanced Blue Origin into final lease talks for Vandenberg’s SLC‑14, a step that would add West Coast heavy‑lift access to polar orbits.