New Glenn NG-2: The Breakthrough Landing That Changes Heavy-Lift Rockets Forever

Video from the channel SpaceInfo Club about New Glenn, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 28:19. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

Technical analysis of New Glenn's NG-2 mission, focused on the landing of the first stage on the ship Jacklyn and its comparison with the recovery manoeuvres of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Super Heavy.

NG-2 lifted off on 13 November 2025 from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral carrying NASA's two ESCAPADE mission satellites, which were successfully released. It was New Glenn's second launch and the first time its first stage was recovered. It came just days after NASA reopened the contract for its lunar lander system.

The video describes the launcher. It is about 98 m tall. The first stage carries seven BE-4 engines burning liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas in an oxygen-rich cycle, while the second stage uses BE-3U hydrogen/oxygen engines. Blue Origin advertises about 45 tonnes to low Earth orbit and 13 to geostationary transfer orbit. The flight timeline was: Max Q at 1 min 35 s; first-stage shutdown at 3 min 5 s; separation at 3 min 9 s, with no hot staging; second-stage ignition at 3 min 17 s; booster re-entry burn at 6 min 48 s; landing burn at 8 min 27 s and touchdown at 9 min 9 s.

In the final phase, New Glenn hovered offset from the ship. It then moved laterally tens of metres by directing the thrust of its three central BE-4 engines and descended. The presenter estimates between 2 and 8 seconds of hover and a consumption of 1.5 to over 2 tonnes of propellant. He compares it with Falcon 9's direct final burn, using a single Merlin 1D, and with Super Heavy's tower catch. He attributes the method to experience gained with New Shepard. It gives more margin and safety, because if the thrust fails the stage falls into the sea rather than onto the ship, but it costs payload, complicates control and adds lateral loads to the structure. He cautions that what is said about the landing sensors (lidar, inertial units, GPS) is speculation without official confirmation.