**Space transport company Blue Origin successfully flew its New Glenn rocket for the first time early this morning**. This marked a significant step for the firm in competing for national security missions.

The **New Glenn rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at just 2 a.m.**, carrying an experimental payload developed for the Defense Innovation Unit program. In a statement, Blue Origin mentioned, **“New Glenn is foundational to advancing our customers’ critical missions as well as our own.”** The company aims to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, harness in-space resources, and provide multi-mission, multi-orbit mobility through its Blue Ring initiative.

The company aimed to recover the rocket’s first-stage booster to land it on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean; however, the booster was lost during descent. This inaugural launch has been in the works for a long time, as the **rocket was originally scheduled to debut in 2020**, but development issues caused repeated delays. Its successful launch aligns with plans for conducting commercial and NASA missions and contributes to its certification for carrying national security payloads for the U.S. Space Force.

Blue Origin is poised to compete alongside **SpaceX and United Launch Alliance** for a subset of military missions within the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch program, which is valued at up to **$5.6 billion over the next five years**. However, New Glenn will need at least one more successful flight before the company can be considered eligible for these contracts.

This selection aligns with the Space Force’s new strategy for space launch, referred to as **NSSL Phase 3**, developed this past summer. Under this strategy, the Space Force has created two competition lanes: **Lane 1** for commercial-like missions, geared towards new providers, and **Lane 2**, reserved for providers whose rockets meet stringent security and performance requirements. The Space Force chose the first round of Lane 1 competitors last June and will select Lane 2 companies later this year.

Blue Origin is also in contention for Lane 2. In **2023 and 2024**, the Space Force awarded the company over **$950 million** to conduct integration studies assessing the rocket’s ground systems and payload integration to meet government schedule requirements.

Today’s mission included an experimental payload known as the **Blue Ring Pathfinder**, part of the **DIU’s Orbital Logistics prototype effort**. This program aims to demonstrate logistics services like refueling and transport, with the goal of Blue Ring serving as a heavy utility orbital logistics vehicle capable of maneuvering multiple payloads or spacecraft to different orbits.

The payload launched today will assist in validating Blue Ring’s capability to communicate with ground control from space and test telemetry, tracking, and command systems, as well as ground-based tracking systems that will be integrated into future Blue Ring production vehicles.

Paul Ebertz, Blue Origin’s senior vice president for in-space systems, commented, **“Blue Ring plays a critical role in building a road to space, and this mission is an important first step for Blue Ring and enabling dynamic and responsive operations that will greatly benefit our nation.”**

**Courtney Albon** is a reporter for C4ISRNET, covering space and emerging technologies, with a focus on military developments since **2012**.