Blue Origin is currently halfway through a multi-step process to qualify its New Glenn rocket for national security launches, a critical milestone on the path Bezos’s company touts toward expanding access to space.
At a briefing during the Space Force Association’s SpacePower Conference, Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command, confirmed that Blue Origin has chosen a four-flight certification track to qualify New Glenn for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions.
In 2025, Blue Origin launched two New Glenn rockets, with the second flight achieving a successful recovery of the first-stage booster, Glenn Stage 1 (GS1).
“Two out of four have been successful, and we’re closely tracking progress, aiming for a third launch earlier rather than later in the coming year. If that goes smoothly and they complete the fourth, they’ll be well positioned to become our third certified provider and compete for missions,” Garrant said. “We’re very pleased with how things are unfolding.”
Back in April 2025, SSC named Blue Origin alongside SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA) as the three most capable companies to handle payload launches to the full range of orbits required for national security missions.
Under the designation NSSL Phase 3 Lane 2, SpaceX is slated to handle about 60 percent of upcoming missions and ULA roughly 40 percent. Blue Origin, as the newest entrant to orbital launch, is planned to fly seven missions under the contract once it earns full certification.
Nevertheless, after the necessary certification flights, a thorough data review and additional analyses will determine when Blue Origin receives the final green light for national security payloads.
“Certification is a collaborative process between the government and the launch provider. Even after the fourth flight, it won’t be an immediate clearance,” Garrant explained. “There will be a substantial review, but if the next two flights mirror the first two in success, I expect a timely and efficient certification.”
Garrant also noted that while the general framework of launch certification has evolved, its core principles have remained consistent for many years.
On a separate panel about launch and innovation at SpacePower, Blue Origin’s Tom Martin, Senior Director of National Security Programs, expressed hope that the certification process could gradually adapt to new capabilities.
“As providers advance their capabilities and the technologies they bring to rockets evolve, the certification process should become more flexible to accommodate those improvements,” Martin said.
Blue Origin has recently introduced a heavy-lift variant of New Glenn featuring nine BE-4 engines instead of seven, signaling ongoing efforts to expand the rocket’s performance envelope.
