Blue Origin Plans Second Launch from Space Coast

November 7, 2025 – Some key points from Florida Today:

• Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is set for its second mission, carrying NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
• The 321-foot-tall rocket, larger than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
• Blue Origin aims to recover and reuse the rocket’s first stage booster, similar to SpaceX, to reduce launch costs.

Lift off is set for no earlier than Sunday, Nov. 9 and will fly from Launch Complex 36 with a great view for launch-watchers.

Blue Origin operates a 750,000-square-foot facility on Space Commerce Way in Merritt Island, where parts for future missions are manufactured. The engines for the space craft come from Alabama, but everything else for the rocket is built in Merritt Island.

Only a foot shorter than the massive Space Launch System moon rocket, the New Glenn reaches 321 feet tall. The Saturn V rocket that journeyed to the moon stood at 363 feet.

And here’s something the Saturn V couldn’t do: land and reuse the first stage booster. SpaceX has been accomplishing this feat with Falcon 9 rockets for a while, and if the New Glenn can pull it off, the company will be on its way to a planned 12 launches per year.

This type of success will mean more employment, more construction and new facilities for Merritt Island and Florida’s Space Coast.

Source: Florida Today