Blue Origin announces Florida launch pad expansion to boost New Glenn flights

Blue Origin announced plans to build new launch pads on Florida's Space Coast to increase the flight rate of its New Glenn rocket, Spaceflight Now reported. According to CNBC, the company is planning a 330 million dollar expansion in Florida. BigGo Finance reported that Blue Origin is pouring billions into the Florida hub to reach a weekly launch pace by the end of the decade. [1][2][4]

The operational upgrades include a manufacturing expansion at Rocket Park and the addition of new landing barges, according to Spaceflight Now. Ian Richardson, the Senior Vice President of Operations at Blue Origin, said that the infrastructure is designed to support multiple flights per week by the end of the decade. The new pads will be modeled on existing designs to help build operational capacity. [1]

The company is working to recover from a catastrophic test fire explosion that occurred in May, Spaceflight Now reported. As FTMQ Space reported earlier, Blue Origin has also been rebuilding Launch Complex-36 in Florida with the goal of returning the uncrewed heavy-lift rocket to flight before the end of 2026. [1][12]

Headquartered in Kent, Washington, Blue Origin operates the suborbital New Shepard vehicle and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. New Glenn is a two-stage partially reusable launch vehicle with a seven-meter diameter stage capable of carrying 45 tons to low Earth orbit. The rocket made its inaugural orbital flight on January 16, 2025, followed by a second mission on November 13, 2025, that launched NASA's ESCAPADE twin spacecraft to Mars. [7][8][11]