At the beginning of the year, Blue Origin planned for its New Glenn rocket to launch eight times within the year, but meeting that target seems to be impossible. The space firm is now pushing the second launch of their rocket to the third quarter of the year, as they miss their target by a large margin.

Blue Origin Falls Behind On Its Plans For New Glenn Launches

After the launch of the first New Glenn rocket for the year back in January, the space firm has been unable to perform the second launch. To meet its set goal for eight launches in 2025, Blue Origin needed to launch four times in the two halves of the year.

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Dave Limp, the chief executive of Blue Origin, admitted during an all-hands meeting for the space firm’s employees held a few weeks ago. During this meeting, Limp announced that the second New Glenn launch for 2025 will take place in August 2025.

The name of this second launch will be “Never Tell Me The Odds”, and it’ll attempt to land the rocket’s stage two booster. There are no available official details on the payload that this second launch will take to space, but it is expected to carry the NASA ESCAPADE mission.

Blue Origin will focus on landing and recovering the booster with the second New Glenn launch in 2025. Limp says, “This will take a little bit of luck and a lot of excellent execution” hence the name, which circles not knowing the odds of the mission’s success.

A Shake In Leadership Might Further Delay The Second New Glenn Rocket Launch

While Blue Origin looks towards August for its second New Glenn rocket launch, some say actualising its aim will be difficult. Those familiar with the matter say that September is a more realistic period for the second launch of Blue Origin’s largest rocket.

This will be due to a leadership shake that the firm is currently facing, as some top players in its ranks are leaving. In its most recent organisational update, the space firm announced the retirement of Linda Cova, its senior vice president of engines.

However, Blue Origin claims that this won’t affect the development of its BE-4 rocket engines. Another leadership shake will be the one-year sabbatical leave of Jarrett Jones, senior vice president of the New Glenn program.

Jones will go on his one-year leave starting 15 August 2025, the same month that the firm hopes to conduct the second New Glenn launch. These changes might alter Blue Origin’s launch schedule, hence drawing it backwards in the completion of its second launch for the year.