Jeff Bezos's Massive New Rocket Is Taller than Some Skyscrapers

Years in the making, but finally revealed on Monday, Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket has been shown for the first time via its founder Jeff Bezos.

This process is reminiscent of what Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket is capable of doing (and actually has done four times now), but what separates the two are the circumstances under which these landings occur.

Named in honor of John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, New Glenn is 23 feet in diameter and lifts off with 3.85 million pounds of thrust from seven BE-4 engines. "And New Glenn incorporates all of those learnings", Bezos said in an emailed statement.

But deadline slips or no, new large orbital rockets produced by three different companies-first SpaceX's Falcon, then ULA's Vulcan, and now Blue Origin's New Glenn-may soon replace Russian technology that has dominated the business, and signal the resurgence of the United States space industry. Mr. Bezos, a self- described "space geek" from his teenage years who has shunned publicity and until recently avoided any connection to federal space programs, described that touchdown as "one of the greatest moments of my life".

The rocket builds on the success of the company's New Shepard booster, which has now completed four trips to the edge of space and back, showcasing the upright landings that have become a staple of the modern-day space race. In creating a heavy lift rocket that employs a retrievable first-stage, Blue Origin has signaled its intent to give SpaceX a run for its money when it comes to the development of reusable rocket technology.

Another of the company's initiatives is New Shephard, a smaller rocket that can also be reused.

It's named New Glenn after John Glenn, the former astronaut and United States senator who was the first American to orbit Earth.

The first stage of both rockets is created to fall back to Earth, where it will again fire off its thrusters and gently lower itself to the ground. If successful, Blue Origin would find itself in fierce competition with SpaceX, which also is developing re-usable rockets meant to carry people and payloads, and is actively working to lower the costs of spaceflight.

Against that backdrop, NASA is developing its own Space Launch System mega rocket to launch crew capsules and habitat modules on deep space missions to the vicinity of the moon and, eventually, to Mars. "But that's a story for the future", he wrote.

For the rest of us mortals, New Glenn is good news because more than anything, the space industry needs healthy competition between innovative companies.

The rocket will be able capable of sending satellites and people into lower Earth orbit (LEO), when it is with one stage.

"New Glenn is a very important step".

Armstrong, of course, refers to Neil Armstrong, the first human to land on the moon, a not-so-subtle hint about Blue Origin's goal of returning there.