Blue Origin aims for mid-October with New Glenn’s first flight and the launch of NASA’s Escapade Mars mission

Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy-lift rocket and its Mars-bound NASA payload now have a test launch date. The company said on Friday that the first flight will take place before October 13, carrying to help NASA study the effects of the solar wind on the atmosphere of Mars. It will be the first time New Glenn has flown in its development, and the date falls within the window of opportunity to go to Mars, which happens roughly every two years based on the planet’s alignment. That launch period opens on September 29 and runs through mid-October, with .

The mission will take off from Space Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The twin spacecraft of NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (Escapade) mission on August 19 to begin preparations and integration with the launch vehicle.

Now, the pressure is really on for the Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin to get New Glenn ready on time. reported Wednesday that the company recently experienced two failures at its factory that resulted in hardware damage to its second and third New Glenn aircraft. However, the spokesperson for this newspaper told this newspaper that this year’s launch is still going on.