Blue Origin announced on Sunday that the booster from its New Glenn rocket successfully landed following liftoff, achieving the company’s first recovery of a previously flown component. The rocket deployed AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird 7 satellite into low-Earth orbit, representing a significant advancement for the firm founded by Jeff Bezos. This flight highlighted the dependability of booster reusability in the 29-story heavy-lift vehicle, positioning it as a rival to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The booster, dubbed ‘Never Tell Me the Odds,’ had earlier been used in the NG-2 mission last November and was retrieved successfully, paving the way for this latest accomplishment. The name references a famous quote from Han Solo in ‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.’ The launch followed multiple postponements this month and occurred during a period of heightened developments in the space industry, such as NASA’s recent Artemis II mission that circled the moon.
