Blue Origin successfully re-uses a New Glenn rocket for the first time ever

The first StrictlyVC of 2026 hits SF on April 30. Tickets are going fast. Register now. Save up to $680 on your Disrupt 2026 pass. Ends 11:59 p.m. PT tonight. REGISTER NOW. TechCrunch Desktop Logo TechCrunch Mobile Logo LatestStartupsVentureAppleSecurityAIApps EventsPodcastsNewsletters SearchSubmit Site Search Toggle Mega Menu Toggle Topics Latest Blue Origin successfully re-uses a New Glenn rocket for the first time ever Sean O'Kane 4:45 AM PDT · April 19, 2026 Blue Origin has successfully reused one of its New Glenn rockets for the first time ever, marking a major milestone for the heavy-launch system as Jeff Bezos’ space company looks to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The company accomplished the feat Sunday on just the third-ever launch of New Glenn, and a little more than one year after the first flight of the new rocket system, which has been in development for more than a decade. Making New Glenn reusable is crucial to the economics of New Glenn. SpaceX’s ability to re-fly Falcon 9 rocket boosters is one of the main reasons why it has come to dominate the global orbital launch market. While Blue Origin has already sent a commercial payload to space with New Glenn — Sunday was the second-such mission — the company wants to use the rocket for NASA moon missions, and to help both it and Amazon build space-based satellite networks. Blue Origin is currently finishing getting its first robotic moon lander ready for an attempted launch later this year. The booster that Blue Origin re-flew on Sunday was the same one the company used in the second New Glenn mission in November. During that mission, the New Glenn booster helped put two robotic NASA spacecraft into space for a mission to Mars, before returning to a drone ship in the ocean. On Sunday, Blue Origin recovered the rocket booster a second time on a drone ship roughly 10 minutes after takeoff. Sunday’s primary mission was to send a communications satellite into space for customer AST SpaceMobile. The New Glenn upper stage was still carrying the satellite to its specific orbit at the time this story is published, and TechCrunch will update the post as the mission progresses. Sean O'Kane Sr. Reporter, Transportation Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane. You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing sean.okane@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal. April 30 San Francisco, CA StrictlyVC kicks off the year in SF. Get in the room for unfiltered fireside chats with industry leaders, insider VC insights, and high-value connections that actually move the needle. Tickets are limited. Most Popular Anthropic launches Claude Design, a new product for creating quick visuals Aisha Malik Physical Intelligence, a hot robotics startup, says its new robot brain can figure out tasks it was never taught Connie Loizos Anthropic CPO leaves Figma’s board after reports he will offer a competing product Tim Fernholz After sale of its shoe business, Allbirds pivots to AI Sarah Perez An Amazon warehouse worker died on the job at Oregon facility Amanda Silberling OpenAI has bought AI personal finance startup Hiro Julie Bort Stanford report highlights growing disconnect between AI insiders and everyone else Sarah Perez X LinkedIn Facebook Instagram youTube Mastodon Threads Bluesky TechCrunchStaffContact UsAdvertiseCrunchboard JobsSite Map Terms of ServicePrivacy PolicyRSS Terms of UseCode of Conduct OpenAIIranGas PricesTeslaAppleTech LayoffsChatGPT © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC.