Blue Origin to test New Glenn upper stages at Stennis
Blue Origin will use NASA’s Stennis Space Center to test New Glenn upper stages as it rebuilds its Cape Canaveral launch complex. The post Blue Origin to test New Glenn upper stages at Stennis appeared first on SpaceNews.
Home / Blue Origin to test New Glenn upper stages at Stennis
!StennisThe B-2 test stand (left) at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Credit: NASA/Danny Nowlin
WASHINGTON — Blue Origin will use NASA’s Stennis Space Center to test New Glenn upper stages as it rebuilds its Cape Canaveral launch complex.
NASA and Blue Origin announced July 24 a reimbursable Space Act Agreement giving the company access to the B-2 test stand at Stennis. Blue Origin will use the stand for testing the New Glenn second stage.
The company said the test site is part of its “comprehensive infrastructure expansion to add more test stands to hotfire our second stages to deconflict LC-36 launch operations.”
The company had performed static-fire tests of the New Glenn upper stage at Launch Complex 36. That site, though, is being rebuilt after a May 28 explosion of a New Glenn rocket during a hotfire test.
NASA said it will provide engineers, equipment and other services to modify the B-2 stand for New Glenn. The agency said that work will allow Blue Origin to start using the test stand this fall. Neither NASA nor Blue Origin disclosed the cost of that work, which the company would pay under the reimbursable agreement.
The agency noted that Blue Origin is a key player in its Artemis lunar exploration campaign, as New Glenn is designed to launch the company’s Blue Moon lunar landers.
The B-Test Complex, which included the B-1 and B-2 test stands, was built in the 1960s to support the Apollo program by testing the first stage of the Saturn 5. It was later used for the space shuttle and Delta 4 and most recently hosted the Space Launch System core stage for its “Green Run” tests in 2020 and 2021.
“Supporting Blue Origin at NASA’s Stennis Space Center puts world-class American infrastructure to work advancing the capabilities needed to return astronauts to the moon, establish a sustained lunar presence and prepare for Mars,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement. “Partnerships like this strengthen our industrial base and help ensure the United States remains the world’s leader in space.”
The NASA statement notably included comments from Mississippi’s two senators and the congressman whose district includes Stennis.
“I’m excited about the prospect of Blue Origin establishing a rigorous test program in Mississippi as part of future American crewed missions to the moon and beyond,” said Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., in the statement. “I hope its use of the B-2 test stand becomes a long-term arrangement that broadens our state’s contribution to space exploration. I will certainly do what I can to make that a reality.”
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Jeff Foust
Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews.
He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science... More by Jeff Foust
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