Blue Origin launched its second heavy-lift New Glenn rocket Thursday, putting two small NASA satellites onto a long, looping course to Mars to learn more about how the sun has slowly blown away the red planet's once-thick atmosphere.

The centerpiece of Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos' space ambitions, the towering 321-foot-tall New Glenn rocket's seven methane-burning main engines ignited at 3:55 p.m. ET, majestically pushing the booster skyward atop 3.8 million pounds of thrust.

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. John Raoux / AP

The launch came three days late due to stormy weather on Earth and in space, where a powerful solar storm buffeted Earth's

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