CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully launched on Thursday, carrying two NASA spacecraft on a mission to Mars. This marked the second flight of the 321-foot rocket, which is part of a broader effort by Jeff Bezos' company and NASA to transport people and supplies to the moon. The launch took place at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station after a four-day delay due to poor weather and solar storms that created auroras visible as far south as Florida.

In a significant achievement, Blue Origin successfully recovered the rocket's booster after it separated from the upper stage and the Mars orbiters. The booster landed upright on a barge located 375 miles offshore, a feat that drew cheers from company employees and an enthusiastic response from Bezos, who watched from Launch Control. Following the successful landing, employees chanted, "Next stop, moon!"

Twenty minutes after liftoff, the rocket's upper stage deployed the twin Mars orbiters, named Escapade, into space. These orbiters will spend about a year in a stable position 1 million miles from Earth. They are scheduled to receive a gravity assist from Earth next fall, allowing them to travel to Mars, where they are expected to arrive in 2027.

Once in orbit around Mars, the spacecraft will map the planet's upper atmosphere and magnetic fields, studying their interactions with solar wind. This research aims to provide insights into how Mars transitioned from a wet and warm environment to its current dry and dusty state. Additionally, scientists hope to learn how to protect astronauts from Mars' harsh radiation.

Rob Lillis, the lead scientist for the Escapade mission from the University of California, Berkeley, emphasized the importance of the mission, stating, "We really, really want to understand the interaction of the solar wind with Mars better than we do now. Escapade is going to bring an unprecedented stereo viewpoint because we’re going to have two spacecraft at the same time."

The mission is budgeted at under $80 million and is managed by UC Berkeley. NASA opted for an early flight on New Glenn to save costs. The Mars orbiters were initially scheduled to launch last fall, but NASA missed that window due to concerns about potential delays with the new rocket.

New Glenn, named after astronaut John Glenn, is significantly larger than Blue Origin's New Shepard rockets, which are used for suborbital flights. The company plans to launch a prototype of its Blue Moon lunar lander in the coming months aboard New Glenn. Blue Origin has secured a NASA contract for the third moon landing under the Artemis program, while SpaceX has been awarded the first two crewed landings.

Recently, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy reopened the contract for the first crewed moon landing, citing concerns about SpaceX's progress with its Starship program. Both Blue Origin and SpaceX have proposed accelerated plans for lunar landings. NASA aims to send astronauts around the moon early next year using its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, with the goal of returning astronauts to the lunar surface by the end of the decade, ahead of China's planned lunar missions. The last time astronauts walked on the moon was during NASA's Apollo program over 50 years ago.