Blue Origin seeks FAA approval for 50 New Glenn launches a year from Cape Canaveral
Blue Origin wants FAA permission to fly New Glenn up to 50 times a year from Launch Complex 36, up from the current cap of 12.
Blue Origin is seeking to more than quadruple its FAA-licensed maximum New Glenn launch rate — from 12 to 50 launches a year — from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The FAA has published a 68-page draft environmental assessment of the plan for Launch Complex 36, covering up to 100 static-fire engine tests a year, up to 50 first-stage booster landings on ocean platforms, payload fairing recoveries and temporary airspace closures. The draft found “unavoidable adverse effects” but said “none have been identified as potentially significant”. A virtual public meeting runs 6 to 8 p.m. on 22 October, with written comments open through 30 October under docket FAA-2026-9841.
The proposal comes as Blue Origin rebuilds the complex after a New Glenn exploded on the pad during a prelaunch engine test on 28 May, wreaking infrastructure damage. Chief executive Dave Limp said at a space-panel event at Blue Origin’s Rocket Park on Merritt Island on 28 September that the company still has “a path to launch this year”.
“We’ve never seen anything like this. And it’s just beginning. You know, today we might see 100 flights come out of the Cape a year. But this is going to go to 1,000. And it’s going to go to 10,000,” Limp said. “This is going to look a lot more like an airport than it’s going to look like a spaceport. And that’s what we’re shooting for.”
Last year, 109 orbital rockets launched from Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center — nearly all of them SpaceX.
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