New Glenn is the first orbital rocket developed by Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos. The two-stage heavy lifter had just one flight under its belt before Thursday — a test mission that lifted off in January 2025, sending a prototype version of Blue Origin's Blue Ring spacecraft platform to orbit.

Hitching a ride on a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, NASA's pair of Escapade (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecrafts were launched at at 3:55 p.m. ET Thursday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Blue Origin says it is working with the government to secure additional launch opportunities for the upcoming New Glenn launch of a NASA Mars mission.