
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Blue Origin's powerful New Glenn rocket had a very big day on Thursday (Nov. 13), and a new video lets us all relive part of it.
New Glenn launched for the second time ever on Thursday afternoon, successfully sending NASA's twin ESCAPADE Mars probes into the final frontier from Florida's Space Coast.
But that wasn't all. The two-stage rocket's huge first stage came back to Earth as planned, acing a landing on "Jacklyn," Blue Origin's drone ship, which was stationed about 375 miles (604 kilometers) offshore.
Previously, only one company had ever pulled off this dramatic maneuver — SpaceX, which has pioneered the recovery and reuse of orbital rockets.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos celebrated the New Glenn landing on X, posting several videos of the 188-foot-tall (57 meters) booster steering its way through the sky toward Jacklyn.
One video showed the landing itself, during which the booster sidled over to Jacklyn rather than drop directly onto it from above.
"We nominally target a few hundred feet away from Jacklyn to avoid a severe impact if engines fail to start or start slowly," Bezos wrote in the Friday morning (Nov. 14) X post that featured this video. "We’ll incrementally reduce that conservatism over time. We are all excited and grateful for yesterday. Amazing performance by the team! Gradatim Ferociter."
(Gradatim Ferociter, Latin for "Step by Step, Ferociously," is Blue Origin's motto.)
Blue Origin named the first stage that flew on Thursday "Never Tell Me the Odds," a nod to the perceived improbability of a successful touchdown.
"It turns out 'Never Tell Me The Odds' had perfect odds — never before in history has a booster this large nailed the landing on the second try," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in a company statement. "This is just the beginning as we rapidly scale our flight cadence and continue delivering for our customers."
Each New Glenn first stage is designed to fly at least 25 times, according to Blue Origin. "Never Tell Me the Odds" looks intact — startlingly clean, in fact — in post-landing photos, so don't be surprised to see the booster on the pad again before too much longer.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
Triumph’s Gorgeous, Super-Affordable and Approachable New Street Motos Share a Heart But Not a Soul - 2
Internet goes (cocoa) nuts: The funniest reactions to 12 tonne theft of KitKat bars - 3
Oil rises above $115 and Asia stocks slide as Iran war escalates - 4
Wedding trip Objections in Europe - 5
3 Italian City Cars That Outsmarted Regulations and Rivals
Data centers in space: Will 2027 really be the year AI goes to orbit?
Kansas school officials report high student illness, dismiss early
Lawsuit claims ChatGPT exacerbated man's delusions leading to murder-suicide
Thyssenkrupp to suspend electrical steel production at French site
Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle campaign and Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance were among the 10 biggest pop-culture moments of 2025
Venezuelan President Maduro arrives in New York following U.S. capture: Full coverage
I served on the expert committee that advised the government on new dietary guidelines – most of our recommendations were ignored
Oldest evidence of human fire-making discovered at site in England
6 Agreeable Earphones To Wear












