While SpaceX has captured headlines with its first test flight of Starship, Blue Origin, the company founded by rival billionaire Jeff Bezos, is ramping up work on its own reusable heavy-lift rocket and a reusable Starship-like vehicle.
The New Glenn rocket, listed as having a payload capacity of 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit or 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit, is Blue Origin’s entry into the heavy-lift launch services arena. New Glenn has been seen to make visible progress recently, captured by imagery from NSF’s photographers over the Cape Canaveral area.