In a landmark mission, Blue Origin’s heavy-lift rocket New Glenn successfully launched two NASA spacecraft—named Blue and Gold—for the ESCAPADE (Escape & Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission headed to Mars.  The launch, from Cape Canaveral on November 13, 2025, overcame previous setbacks including weather delays and a solar storm to deliver the payload into an Earth-escape trajectory. This flight also marked the first time New Glenn’s first-stage booster successfully landed on a sea-based platform—achieving reusability goals critical to future commercial missions.

The twin ESCAPADE probes will first loiter near Earth before embarking on a 2027 arrival at Mars, where they’ll study how the solar wind dismantled the planet’s once thicker atmosphere. The mission is comparatively low budget and small in scale, yet carries strategic importance for both science and commercial launch competition.

With this success, Blue Origin edges closer to rivaling established players in orbital deep-space launches. Meanwhile, NASA benefits from a cost-effective ride to Mars, underlining a shift in how the agency sources launch services.