INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
A few weeks ago, the chief executive of Blue Origin, Dave Limp, convened an all-hands meeting for the more than 12,000 employees at the
Among the most critical items he discussed was the launch rate for the New Glenn rocket and how the company would fall significantly short
of its goal for this year.Before 2025 began, Limp had set expectations alongside Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos: New Glenn would launch
eight times this year.However, since the rocket's mostly successful debut in January, five months have passed
At one point the company targeted "late spring" for the second launch of the rocket
However, on Monday, Limp acknowledged on social media that the rocket's next flight will now no longer take place until at least August 15
Although he did not say so, this may well be the only other New Glenn launch this year.The mission, with an undesignated payload, will be
named "Never Tell Me the Odds," due to the attempt to land the booster."One of our key mission objectives will be to land and recover the
"This will take a little bit of luck and a lot of excellent execution
stands for "Glenn stage 2," or the second stage of the large rocket
It is telling that Limp commented on the company tracking toward producing eight second stages, which would match the original launch
cadence planned for this year
This likely is a fig leaf offered to Bezos, who, two sources said, was rather upset that Blue Origin would not meet (or even approach) its
original target of eight launches this year.One person familiar with the progress on the vehicle told Ars that even a launch date in August
Blue Origin has not publicly stated what the payload will be, but this second flight is expected to carry the ESCAPADE mission for NASA.
