Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket on Thursday, and also nailed the landing of its rocket booster. The booster, named Never Tell Me the Odds (Han Solo fans will recognize that quote), landed gently on a floating platform named Jacklyn, after Bezos' late mother. This was the first time Blue Origin successfully landed the New Glenn rocket booster.
Just before 4 p.m. ET on Thursday, New Glenn launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It deployed NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers twin spacecraft, dubbed Escapade, into the designated loiter orbit, and then landed the reusable first stage on Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean.
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Elon Musk's SpaceX, Blue Origin's competitor, has successfully landed boosters as well, but this was the first time Blue Origin has done so. It's seen as an important step since both companies plan to reuse the expensive boosters on future flights.
Escapade is on its way to Mars. Two small identical spacecraft, named Blue and Gold for the colors of the University of California-Berkeley, whose Space Sciences Laboratory is managing the mission, were successfully deployed half an hour after launch.
Read more: NASA's Escapade Mission May Finally Reveal How the Martian Atmosphere Works
Blue and Gold will loop around a point in space known as Lagrange-2. Later this month, they will do a quick flyby of Earth and then depart for Mars. The twin orbiters are expected to arrive at the Red Planet by November 2027.