Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is capable of reaching orbital speeds that are 23 times faster than the speed of sound.

Reusable initial phase

Earlier, the launch was scheduled for January 10 and then January 12. The New Glenn rocket, which was being developed for almost a decade, has a reusable first stage like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
The 320-foot-high rocket will not be launching any satellites throughout the mission. However, it’s carrying a payload, which is a test version of Blue Origin’s new “Blue Ring” spacecraft platform.

The company will make efforts to recover the rocket’s first stage on Monday morning as the booster lands in the Atlantic Ocean on its Landing Platform Vessel 1. Called Jacklyn, the barge is nicknamed after the mother of Jeff Bezos, who is the founder of Blue Origin.

Capturing the booster.

The payload for this mission is the Blue Ring Pathfinder. This spacecraft will test Blue Ring’s core flight, ground systems, and operational capabilities as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Orbital Logistics prototype effort.  

“Our key objective is to reach orbit safely. We know landing the booster on our first try offshore in the Atlantic is ambitious—but we’re going for it,” said the company in a statement.

Jarrett Jones, Senior Vice President of New Glenn, emphasized that this marks the inaugural flight of New Glenn, and the team has engaged in extensive preparations leading up to this moment.