Blue Origin shares a photo of the New Glenn first stage mating process. Photo: Blue Origin

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is approaching its debut launch in a mission for NASA, which could take place in October.

New Glenn will launch NASA’s ESCAPADE — Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers — mission in its inaugural launch. Last week, Blue Origin announced it is targeting an ESCAPADE launch date no earlier than October 13. The mission is set to launch from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida

Blue Origin also recently completed the final major mate operation on the New Glenn first stage, merging the aft with the mid module, sharing a photo on X. 

Also, Blue Origin shared a photo of its landing barge, named Jacklyn, on Sept. 2. The rocket’s first stage is reusable, and Blue Origin says it is designed to be used for a minimum of 25 missions. 

New Glenn is Blue Origin’s heavy-lift rocket with a seven meter payload fairing – large enough to hold three school buses. Its customers include NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation, and Eutelsat, and others. 

In June, New Glenn was added to the U.S. Space Force National Security Space Launch Phase 3 contract, opening the door for Blue Origin to compete for Space Force missions against SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA). 

This year has a been a big year for heavy-lift rocket debuts that had been pushed back for years. ULA successfully launched the Vulcan Centaur for the first time in January, and the European Space Agency launched Ariane 6 in July. Arianespace will operate the Ariane 6 for commercial service.