NASA announced Friday that it and Blue Origin have agreed to conduct second-stage hot-fire testing of the company’s New Glenn rocket on the B-2 test stand at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, the agency said.
NASA said the testing will directly support its work to achieve the national goal of landing American astronauts on the Moon and building a base near the lunar South Pole. The agency said the tests are targeted to begin this fall to aid Artemis missions in 2027 and beyond.
“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.”
Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the company was “proud to partner with NASA” and called Stennis a site that “helped take Americans to the Moon, and through this partnership, it will help take us back,” the company said. Blue Origin said New Glenn will be used to launch missions intended to land on the Moon and that the rocket is named in honor of the late NASA astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi's largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com
