As Elon Musk and his SpaceX gets all the press for its highly successful rocket launches and recoveries, Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon, is trying to catch up with his own Blue Origin aerospace company.
It successfully launched its first New Glenn heavy-lift rocket early Thursday morning after calling off the debut launch because of ice buildup in critical plumbing in an attempt to compete with Musk’s Starship and Super Heavy booster.
NEWS: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has just successfully lifted off for the first time. pic.twitter.com/Gfzz4wNr0F
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever to fly. SpaceX aims to develop it into a rapidly reusable vehicle that can take large payloads into orbit, land back on Earth and launch another mission within hours.
The latest “block 2” version is an even taller, heavier, smarter version of the original and is almost ready to fly.
Somewhat confusingly, Starship is the name given to both the entire spacecraft, consisting of a Super Heavy booster and the ship it launches stacked together and ship alone once it has detached from the booster.
SpaceX’s next Starship test flight, its seventh, will be the most ambitious to date, and the first involving a new “block 2” version with a host of design updates.
SpaceX’s most ambitious Starship flight yet will see reused hardware, the deployment of test satellites and another attempt to catch the booster with “chopsticks.”
The most obvious difference on Starship Version 2, or Block 2, is with the vehicle’s forward flaps. Engineers redesigned the flaps, reducing their size and repositioning them closer to the tip of the ship’s nose to better protect them from the scorching heat of reentry.
The ship’s propellant tanks have 25% more volume than previous iterations of the vehicle.
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, a little more than 17 minutes into flight, Starship will deploy 10 dummy payloads similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites. This will test the ability of the system to carry payloads to orbit.
In another first, one of the 33 Raptor engines that will fly on this Super Heavy booster was recovered from the booster that launched and returned to Starbase in October. For SpaceX, this is a step toward eventually flying the entire rocket repeatedly.
Musk hopes to get approval to increase the number of Starship flight tests to 25 in 2025. He also plans to move his rocket-building operation from California to South Texas.
The launch of New Glenn comes after almost a decade of development, and its outcome could threaten the dominance of SpaceX in the commercial space industry and also in the satellite internet business.
On its maiden voyage, New Glenn will carry a prototype of the company’s multipurpose Blue Ring Pathfinder. The craft is designed to transport, refuel and host satellites and other spacecraft and can carry three metric tons of cargo into space.
First announced in 2016, the New Glenn rocket is meant to shuttle cargo, satellites and, in the future, people into space. The rocket is named after John Glenn, the first NASA astronaut to enter the Earth’s orbit.
New Glenn’s first stage is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s powerful BE-4 engines, which run on liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen.
Blue Origin aims to reuse New Glenn’s first stage for at least 25 missions, as it’s designed to touch down vertically on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean following launch, allowing the company to retrieve it.
The rocket’s upper stage is disposable and carries Blue Origin’s payload. It’s capable of sending 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit. That is still less than the 150 tons a Starship will manage, but more than the 23 tons of SpaceX’s current workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9.
Amazon plans to send 3,236 Project Kuiper satellites into space. Starlink’s growing constellation currently has more than 6,000 satellites.
New Glenn’s inaugural mission (NG-1) will also serve as its first Space Force national security certification flight, necessary to compete with SpaceX for Department of Defense and national intelligence contracts.
May the best man, and rocket, win.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for state and federal office, taught political science, wrote for the editorial board of a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad. To read more go to: paulcrespo.com.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the Pentagon will begin annual testosterone deficiency
At American Liberty News, we eschew the mainstream media’s tightly controlled narrative to provide our readers with real news, real insights, and the means to take action. We seek out insightful coverage – and partner with knowledgeable and experienced people and organizations to bring you the information and insight our readers demand.
We humbly seek to provide the tools and information necessary for our readers to decide for themselves what is true and what is right.
Musk Vs. Bezos: US Billionaire Rocket Space Race Heats Up
As Elon Musk and his SpaceX gets all the press for its highly successful rocket launches and recoveries, Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon, is trying to catch up with his own Blue Origin aerospace company.
It successfully launched its first New Glenn heavy-lift rocket early Thursday morning after calling off the debut launch because of ice buildup in critical plumbing in an attempt to compete with Musk’s Starship and Super Heavy booster.
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever to fly. SpaceX aims to develop it into a rapidly reusable vehicle that can take large payloads into orbit, land back on Earth and launch another mission within hours.
The latest “block 2” version is an even taller, heavier, smarter version of the original and is almost ready to fly.
Jan. 13 was the original target launch date for Starship Flight 7, but SpaceX is “Now targeting Wednesday, January 15 for the seventh flight test of Starship,” SpaceX wrote on X. It has since been postponed to Thursday, Jan. 16 to 5:00 pm EST.
Somewhat confusingly, Starship is the name given to both the entire spacecraft, consisting of a Super Heavy booster and the ship it launches stacked together and ship alone once it has detached from the booster.
SpaceX’s next Starship test flight, its seventh, will be the most ambitious to date, and the first involving a new “block 2” version with a host of design updates.
SpaceX’s most ambitious Starship flight yet will see reused hardware, the deployment of test satellites and another attempt to catch the booster with “chopsticks.”
The most obvious difference on Starship Version 2, or Block 2, is with the vehicle’s forward flaps. Engineers redesigned the flaps, reducing their size and repositioning them closer to the tip of the ship’s nose to better protect them from the scorching heat of reentry.
The ship’s propellant tanks have 25% more volume than previous iterations of the vehicle.
Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, a little more than 17 minutes into flight, Starship will deploy 10 dummy payloads similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites. This will test the ability of the system to carry payloads to orbit.
In another first, one of the 33 Raptor engines that will fly on this Super Heavy booster was recovered from the booster that launched and returned to Starbase in October. For SpaceX, this is a step toward eventually flying the entire rocket repeatedly.
Musk hopes to get approval to increase the number of Starship flight tests to 25 in 2025. He also plans to move his rocket-building operation from California to South Texas.
The launch of New Glenn comes after almost a decade of development, and its outcome could threaten the dominance of SpaceX in the commercial space industry and also in the satellite internet business.
On its maiden voyage, New Glenn will carry a prototype of the company’s multipurpose Blue Ring Pathfinder. The craft is designed to transport, refuel and host satellites and other spacecraft and can carry three metric tons of cargo into space.
First announced in 2016, the New Glenn rocket is meant to shuttle cargo, satellites and, in the future, people into space. The rocket is named after John Glenn, the first NASA astronaut to enter the Earth’s orbit.
New Glenn’s first stage is powered by seven of Blue Origin’s powerful BE-4 engines, which run on liquified natural gas and liquid oxygen.
Blue Origin aims to reuse New Glenn’s first stage for at least 25 missions, as it’s designed to touch down vertically on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean following launch, allowing the company to retrieve it.
The rocket’s upper stage is disposable and carries Blue Origin’s payload. It’s capable of sending 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit. That is still less than the 150 tons a Starship will manage, but more than the 23 tons of SpaceX’s current workhorse rocket, the Falcon 9.
New Glenn is also key to Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet initiative, intended to rival SpaceX’s Starlink. Though Blue Origin’s first set of satellites is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket this year, the Bezos company will eventually launch its new satellites aboard New Glenn.
Amazon plans to send 3,236 Project Kuiper satellites into space. Starlink’s growing constellation currently has more than 6,000 satellites.
New Glenn’s inaugural mission (NG-1) will also serve as its first Space Force national security certification flight, necessary to compete with SpaceX for Department of Defense and national intelligence contracts.
May the best man, and rocket, win.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
READ NEXT: Legendary Hollywood Director Dead At 78
Paul Crespo
Paul Crespo is the Managing Editor of American Liberty Defense News. As a Marine Corps officer, he led Marines, served aboard ships in the Pacific and jumped from helicopters and airplanes. He was also a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at U.S. embassies worldwide. He later ran for state and federal office, taught political science, wrote for the editorial board of a major newspaper and had his own radio show. A graduate of Georgetown, London and Cambridge universities, he brings decades of experience and insight to the issues that most threaten our American liberty – at home and from abroad. To read more go to: paulcrespo.com.
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At American Liberty News, we eschew the mainstream media’s tightly controlled narrative to provide our readers with real news, real insights, and the means to take action. We seek out insightful coverage – and partner with knowledgeable and experienced people and organizations to bring you the information and insight our readers demand.
We humbly seek to provide the tools and information necessary for our readers to decide for themselves what is true and what is right.
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