page_title: New Glenn
section_title: Description and technical specifications
hierarchical_section_title: New Glenn / Description and technical specifications
caption_attribution_description: English: The BE-4, originally serial number 101, was manufactured in Kent, Washington during October 2017. It was the first BE-4 engine to be hotfire tested, on 18 Oct 2017. It has subsequently been hotfire tested, disassembled, rebuilt and retested several times to its current iteration in this photo, noted as SN 103. Portions of this development engine have gone through destructive disassembly and inspection. Part no. 004-150-0000-001
context_page_description: New Glenn, named after John Glenn, is a heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle in development by Blue Origin. Design work on the vehicle began in 2012. Illustrations of the vehicle, and the high-level specifications, were initially publicly unveiled in September 2016. New Glenn is described as a two-stage rocket with a diameter of 7 meters. Its first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 engines that are also being designed and manufactured by Blue Origin.
  Like the New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle that preceded it, the New Glenn's first stage is designed to be reusable. Originally intended for first launch in 2020, by 2018 Blue Origin expected to launch New Glenn in 2021, which remains the current target.
context_section_description: The New Glenn is a 7-meter-diameter (23 ft) two-stage orbital launch vehicle with a reusable first stage and an expendable second stage. An optional third stage was envisaged with a single BE-3U engine, and was planned as of October 2018.
  The first stage is designed to be reusable for up to 100 missions, and will land vertically, a technology previously developed by Blue Origin and tested in 2015–2016 on its New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle. The second stage will share the same diameter as the first and use two BE-3U vacuum optimized engines. It will use hydrogen/oxygen as propellant and will be expendable. This engine is manufactured by Blue Origin. The company has revealed the planned full operational payload capacity of the two-stage version of New Glenn as 13,000 kg (29,000 lb) to GTO and 45,000 kg (99,000 lb) to a 51.6-degree inclined LEO, though the initial operating capability may be somewhat lower. Dual-satellite launches will be offered after the first five flights.
  Both stages will use orthogrid aluminum tanks with welded aluminum domes and common bulkheads. Both stages will also use autogenous pressurization. The first stage will be powered by seven BE-4 methane/oxygen engines—designed and manufactured by Blue Origin—producing 17,000 kN (3,800,000 lbf) of liftoff thrust. The second stage will be powered by two BE-3U engines, also designed and manufactured by Blue Origin.  BE-3Us are an expander cycle variant of the BE-3 engine, which are explicitly designed for use in upper stages.  Preliminary design numbers from 2015 projected the BE-3U to have a vacuum thrust of 670 kilonewtons (150,000 lbf).
  Launches of the New Glenn are planned to be made from Spaceport Florida Launch Complex 36, which was leased to Blue Origin in 2015. A launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base is also planned. New Glenn will also be available for space tourism flights, with priority given to customers of New Shepard.  The first stage boosters of New Glenn are intended to be reusable, and will be recovered downrange on the Atlantic Ocean via the Blue Origin landing platform ship acting as a floating movable landing platform. The hydrodynamically-stabilized ship increases the likelihood of successful recovery in rough seas.
caption: The first hotfire-tested Blue Origin BE-4 rocket engine, serial number 103, at the 34th Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, April 2018, showing the liquid methane inlet side of the engine.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2880", "Image ImageLength": "2160", "Image Make": "samsung", "Image Model": "SM-G935T", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "G935TUVS4BRC1", "Image DateTime": "2018:04:17 10:09:44", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "238", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[38, 47, 85929/2500]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[104, 51, 12553/10000]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "0", "GPS GPSTimeStamp": "[16, 9, 41]", "GPS GPSDate": "2018:04:17", "Image GPSInfo": "5840", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "504", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "376", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "6176", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "21172", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/1696", "EXIF FNumber": "17/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:04:17 10:09:44", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:04:17 10:09:44", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "10727/1000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "403/50", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "153/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "21/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2880", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2160", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5810", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "C12QSJK01SM"}