There are a lot of similarities between the two variants, with one New Glenn model offering two stages and the other offering three.
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SpaceX is planning the launch of its Falcon Heavy rocket in early 2017, but the maiden voyage has already been delayed several times.
Just over a week after SpaceX’s launchpad rocket failure, Blue Origin – the aerospace company owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos – has revealed its ambitious plans to build two “New Glenn” launchers. And of course, the rocket will sport Blue Origin’s signature feather insignia.
The same methane engine, the BE-4, to be used on the New Glenn is now in competition to power another rocket operated by the Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture – United Launch Alliance.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn orbital rocket system compared to NASA’s Saturn V rocket, which took astronauts to the moon.
Like the reusable New Shepard, the New Glenn’s first stage would also be capable of boosting its payload into space, then flying back to the Earth for a soft landing.
The New Glenn will be 7m in diameter and range between 82m-95m in height. The second stage of the New Glenn takes advantage of one of these vacuum-optimized BE-4 engines, which burns liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen.
Mr Bezos aims for a first launch before the end of the decade.
Blue Origin evaluated a number of sites for a large production facility, before finally settling on the Space Coast location.
The main portion of the rocket will be powered by seven BE-4s, an engine that Blue Origin is now developing.
The major structures at the complex were demolished in 2006, a year after its final launch – conducted by an Atlas IIAS, lofting the NROL-1 spacecraft.
Five years later, Moon Express leased the pad in from Space Florida to use as a test site for the MTC-1X Lunar lander flight test vehicle. It is not yet known if this is the name of a new crew capsule or an even more powerful launch vehicle. “New Glenn is created to launch commercial satellites and to fly humans into space”, Bezos wrote.
“Our vision is millions of people living and working in space, and New Glenn is a very important step”, Bezos wrote.
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While getting to orbit is a key step, he said it won’t be the company’s last: “Up next on our drawing board: New Armstrong”.
