Blue Origin to conduct New Glenn second stage hot fires on Stennis B-2 stand

Date:
Fri, 24 Jul 2026 18:01:12 +0000

Description:
NASA and Blue Origin have finalized plans to hot-fire test the second stage
of the The post Blue Origin to conduct New Glenn second stage hot fires on Stennis B-2 stand appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

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NASA and Blue Origin have finalized plans to hot-fire test the second stage
of the New Glenn rocket on the B-2 position of the Thad Cochran Test Stand at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

An annex to a reimbursable Space Act Agreement, signed earlier this month, will see testing begin as early as this fall, providing Blue Origin with access to one of NASAs premier large-stage test facilities while Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral recovers from the explosion of New Glenn during its Static Fire test.





New Glenn is slated to loft Blue Origins Blue Moon Mark 1 lander and support other lunar missions, while the companys human landing system remains a key element of later Artemis flights. However, without an active pad where the vehicles are tested, NASA and Blue Origin worked on an interim plan.

Winning the new space race means moving faster and working alongside a strong commercial industry. Supporting Blue Origin at NASAs 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, said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.

The second stage, designated GS2 and powered by a pair of BE-3U engines burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, produces a combined 400,000 pounds of thrust in vacuum. Under the agreement, NASA will supply engineers, specialized equipment, and facility modifications to ready the B-2 stand for the hydrogen-fueled stage. The agency will also provide dedicated workspace and share decades of propulsion testing expertise gained from prior campaigns on the stand.

LC-36 repairs drive need for alternate test site

The decision to move second-stage testing to Stennis comes directly from the severe damage sustained by Launch Complex 36 on May 28, 2026. During a static-fire test of the integrated New Glenn vehicle planned for the NG-4 mission, an anomaly triggered a catastrophic explosion that destroyed the rocketboth stages fully loaded with propellantand inflicted extensive damage on the pad.



Lightning protection towers were toppled or heavily damaged, the transporter-erector was destroyed, and significant portions of the pad infrastructure were compromised.

Blue Origin has since launched an intensive recovery effort, clearing debris, assessing structural integrity, and beginning repairs with the goal of returning New Glenn to flight before the end of 2026. Launch table is out. The two-million-pound launch table is heading to the Integration Facility for inspection and adjustments to support our future ConOps. Once reinstalled at the pad, it'll be outfitted with the first stage aft umbilicals and tied into the water system, which pic.twitter.com/Qk9bO7yKyc

Dave Limp (@davill) July 18, 2026



The company is also advancing a hybrid concept of operations and long-term plans for a second pad (LC-36B) at the Cape along with a West Coast site.

See Also Blue Origin Forum Section L2 Blue Origin Section NSF Store Click Here to Join L2

In the near term, however, the damaged complex cannot support the kind of integrated stage testing previously performed at the pad. Shifting GS2 hot-fire work to Stennis allows Blue Origin to maintain momentum on vehicle qualification without waiting for full restoration of LC-36.

We are proud to partner with NASA and build on our shared commitment to returning America to the Moon and our broader mission to build a road to
space for the benefit of Earth, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp added. Stennis helped take Americans to the Moon, and through this partnership, it will help take us back.

Pegasus barge to ferry GS2 from the Cape

To get the stage to Mississippi, NSF L2 info notes that NASAs Pegasus barge
is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space Center around August 10-12. Once at the Complex 39 turn basin, the barge will load a GS2 built and processed at Blue Origins nearby manufacturing facilities in Exploration Park before beginning the waterborne journey to Stennis.



Pegasus itself carries a long pedigree of large-stage transport. Originally constructed in 1999 and later lengthened, the 310-foot barge spent the
Shuttle era ferrying External Tanks from the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans to Kennedy.

In the Artemis era, it has become the primary mover for SLS core stages, delivering them from Michoud to Stennis for Green Run testing and later
onward to the Cape. Its upcoming GS2 run marks another commercial adaptation of the same proven waterway logistics that have supported NASAs heaviest hardware for more than two decades.

B-2 stands deep roots in lunar-era testing

The B-2 position of the dual-position Thad Cochran Test Stand was purpose-built in the 1960s for the Apollo program. Between 1967 and 1970, it static-fired a dozen Saturn V S-IC first stages, including those that flew
the crewed lunar missions.

The stand later hosted the Space Shuttle Main Propulsion Test Article, Delta IV Common Booster Core testing, and, most recently, the full Green Run campaign of the Artemis I SLS core stage in 2020-2021. That series culminated in the successful eight-minute hot fire of four RS-25 engines that cleared
the core stage for flight.



Modifications already underway for future SLS Exploration Upper Stage Green Runs will be leveraged and further adapted for the New Glenn second stage, giving Blue Origin access to a facility with experience in testing large cryogenic stages destined for the Moon.

Testing is targeted to begin this fall, with NASA providing the hands-on technical support and infrastructure services needed to integrate the stage onto the stand. The campaign will validate GS2 systems in a controlled environment before the vehicle returns to the Cape for eventual integration and flight once LC-36 is ready.

(Lead Image via NASA).



The post Blue Origin to conduct New Glenn second stage hot fires on Stennis B-2 stand appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/07/blue-ng-gs2-hot-fires-stennis-b-2/


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