After years of delays and missed timelines, Blue Origin has finally taken a significant step forward with its New Glenn rocket. This rocket, the largest ever built by the company, was supposed to compete directly with SpaceX’s Starship. However, while Starship has already completed multiple test flights and shown real progress, Blue Origin has faced delay after delay, losing credibility with each missed deadline.
Earlier this week, Blue Origin rolled New Glenn out to Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, signaling their intent to launch the rocket by the end of 2024. But things aren’t looking completely smooth for them. The FAA has recently updated its launch license requirements, and if Blue Origin fails to meet these new conditions, the maiden flight could be delayed yet again. If that happens, they’ll face added pressure from SpaceX.
We will look into the details about this and whether Blue Origin will be able to launch this month or not in this video. Before we delve any deeper, please make sure to subscribe to our channel for future updates about Starship and other groundbreaking achievements in the space industry.
The rivalry between Blue Origin and SpaceX is both legendary and well-documented. On the surface, the companies share many similarities. Both were founded by billionaire visionaries—Jeff Bezos for Blue Origin and Musk for SpaceX—who were driven by their passion for space exploration and a desire to revolutionize humanity’s access to space. Both companies were founded in the early 2000s, with Blue Origin starting in 2000 and SpaceX following two years later in 2002. Their goals were aligned in many ways: developing reusable rockets, reducing the cost of space launches, and eventually enabling human life beyond Earth.
However, despite their similar beginnings, the paths of the two companies quickly diverged. SpaceX adopted a fast-paced, iterative approach to rocket development, which emphasized rapid testing, failures, and improvements. This philosophy allowed SpaceX to achieve numerous milestones in a relatively short period. By contrast, Blue Origin has taken a more cautious, deliberate approach to its projects, often prioritizing perfection over speed.
SpaceX, for instance, successfully launched its Falcon 1 rocket in 2008, becoming the first privately funded company to reach orbit. The company then introduced the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, both of which feature reusable first stages that drastically lower launch costs. More recently, SpaceX has been working on its fully reusable Starship rocket, which Musk envisions as the vehicle that will take humans to Mars. The Starship program has already conducted multiple high-altitude test flights and integrated flight tests.
In contrast, Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket has completed several successful suborbital flights. But, New Shepard’s capabilities are limited to suborbital space, whereas SpaceX’s rockets have been reaching orbital altitudes for years. New Glenn was announced in 2016 as the company’s answer to the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. But repeated delays have prevented it from flying, leaving Blue Origin far behind in the race for orbital dominance.
