New Glenn vs Falcon Heavy
These are the two American heavy-lift rockets chasing the same commercial and national security payloads. Falcon Heavy has eight years of flight heritage and an unbroken success record; New Glenn counters with a 7-meter fairing and a first stage designed from the start for 25 flights, but it has been grounded since May 2026.
Rockets10 min
New Glenn
New Glenn is Blue Origin's heavy-lift rocket with a reusable first stage. It reached orbit in January 2025 and landed its booster on its second flight.
Rockets10 min
Falcon Heavy
Falcon Heavy is SpaceX's three-core heavy-lift rocket, flown 12 times since its 2018 debut with launches including Psyche, Europa Clipper, and GOES-U.
Key differences
- Experience: Falcon Heavy has flown 12 times since 2018, all successful. New Glenn has flown three times since January 2025, reflew a booster for the first time in April 2026 but left that mission's satellite in an unusable orbit, and has not launched since a static fire on May 28, 2026 destroyed the vehicle built for its fourth flight and damaged its only pad.
- Fairing volume: New Glenn's 7 m fairing offers roughly double the volume of Falcon Heavy's 5.2 m fairing, which matters for station modules and stacked satellite loads.
- Payload: Falcon Heavy's 63,800 kg to low Earth orbit assumes all three cores are expended. Blue Origin quotes 45,000 kg for New Glenn with the booster recovered and publishes no expendable configuration.
- Engines: New Glenn's seven BE-4 engines burn liquefied natural gas, and Blue Origin sells the same engine to ULA for Vulcan Centaur. Falcon Heavy's 27 Merlins burn kerosene, a mature choice with lower specific impulse.
Side-by-side specifications
| New Glenn | Falcon Heavy | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Blue Origin | SpaceX |
| Country | United States | United States |
| First flight | January 16, 2025 | February 6, 2018 |
| Height | 98 m | 70 m |
| Diameter | 7 m | - |
| Payload to LEO | 45,000 kg | 63,800 kg (expendable) |
| Stages | 2 | 2, plus 2 side boosters |
| Status | Grounded since May 2026; return to flight planned late 2026 | Active |
| Total launches | 3 | 12 (as of August 2026) |
| Width | - | 12.2 m |
| Mass | - | 1,420,788 kg |
Figures come from each article's infobox; see the articles for sources and context.
Sources
- Falcon Heavy vehicle page - SpaceX
- SpaceX launches ViaSat-3 F3 on Falcon Heavy - Spaceflight Now
- New Glenn NG-1 reaches orbit - Blue Origin
- New Glenn reaches orbit on first launch - SpaceNews
- Third New Glenn launch leaves payload in wrong orbit - Spaceflight Now
- New Glenn explodes during prelaunch testing - Spaceflight Now
- Blue Origin identifies engine issue behind New Glenn explosion - Spaceflight Now
- Vulcan Centaur vehicle page - United Launch Alliance