New Glenn vs Starship
Blue Origin and SpaceX both bet on large reusable rockets, but they took different risks. New Glenn pairs a recoverable booster with a conventional expendable upper stage and reached orbit on its first attempt; Starship chases full reuse and is working through failures on the way. Both programs lost hardware in 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.
Rockets20 min
Starship
Starship is SpaceX's super heavy-lift rocket in flight testing, designed for full reuse, orbital refueling, Starlink launches, and lunar missions.
Key differences
- Reuse ambition: New Glenn recovers its first stage only, and its hydrogen upper stage is expendable, though Blue Origin has studied a recoverable version. Starship intends to bring back both stages, which no launch vehicle has done.
- Reaching orbit: New Glenn made orbit on its debut on January 16, 2025. All 13 Starship flights have flown suborbital profiles, with the first orbital attempt targeted for late August 2026.
- Scale: Starship V3 stands 124.4 m to New Glenn's 98 m and targets more than twice the payload, over 100 tonnes to low Earth orbit against 45 tonnes.
- 2026 setbacks: a static fire explosion on May 28, 2026 destroyed New Glenn's fourth vehicle and damaged Launch Complex 36, and the rocket has not flown since. Both V3 Starship boosters reached the water but were destroyed in hard impacts after return-engine problems, while both upper stages completed their profiles.
Side-by-side specifications
| New Glenn | Starship | |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Blue Origin | SpaceX |
| Country | United States | United States |
| First flight | January 16, 2025 | - |
| Height | 98 m | 124.4 m (V3); about 121 m (V1); 123 m (V2) |
| Diameter | 7 m | 9 m |
| Payload to LEO | 45,000 kg | 100+ metric tonnes (V3 design target, not demonstrated) |
| Stages | 2 | 2 (Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage) |
| Status | Grounded since May 2026; return to flight planned late 2026 | Flight testing; 13 integrated suborbital tests as of August 13, 2026 |
| Total launches | 3 | - |
| First integrated flight | - | April 20, 2023 |
| Current version | - | Version 3 (V3) |
| Engines | - | 33 booster and 6 ship Raptor engines (V3) |
| Propellants | - | Liquid oxygen and liquid methane |
| Operational launch site | - | Starbase, Texas |
Figures come from each article's infobox; see the articles for sources and context.
Sources
- New Glenn NG-1 reaches orbit - Blue Origin
- New Glenn reaches orbit on first launch - SpaceNews
- Starship vehicle page - SpaceX
- SpaceX launches Starship V3 for the first time - Space.com
- New Glenn explodes during prelaunch testing - Spaceflight Now
- Starship Flight 13 test flight report - Spaceflight Now
- Blue Origin announces New Glenn upgrade plans - SpaceNews
- SpaceX targets late August for next Starship flight - Space.com