Blue Origin's New Glenn 'Never Tell Me the Odds' booster rolls in Cape Canaveral

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Blue Origin's New Glenn 'Never Tell Me the Odds' booster rolls to Cape Canaveral launch pad
Brooke Edwards, Florida Today
Florida Today
Wed, October 8, 2025 at 3:20 PM EDT
2 min read





What seemed like a quiet morning at Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 8 quickly turned eventful -- as Blue Origin suddenly rolled out the booster for its upcoming launch from the Cape.

The 188-foot first stage of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket emerged from the space company's Merritt Island facility Wednesday morning to surprised onlookers. Its seven BE-4 engines soon faded from sight as the booster rolled toward its Cape Canaveral launch pad.

The two-stage rocket is set to see its second launch within the next month, as it sends NASA's ESCAPADE mission to Mars. The liftoff will be from Blue Origin's Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This is the launch pad visible to the public from Brevard County beaches.

'Never Tell Me the Odds' is the name of this second booster, which the company hopes to land on its Jacklyn seafaring platform after launching. Blue Origin had attempted a booster landing during its maiden launch in January but missed the platform entirely.

The goal is to land and reuse the first stage booster to bring down the cost of launching. This is something SpaceX has successfully done with its Falcon 9 rocket over the past decade.

The New Glenn rocket measures a giant 321-feet-tall when fully stacked on the launch pad. By comparison, SpaceX's 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 seem small.

An official launch date is yet to be announced.

However, if Blue Origin follows similar procedures to the first flight of the rocket, the public can expect to see the rocket rise on the launch pad for preflight testing in the near future.

Be sure to follow the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team for the latest from Cape Canaveral.

Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Blue Origin's New Glenn booster rolls to Cape Canaveral launch pad