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Blue Origin eyes weekly launches for its 400-foot New Glenn rocket by decade’s end

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Blue Origin eyes weekly launches for its 400-foot New Glenn rocket by decade’s end

Blue Origin is expanding its Florida operations to support a much faster launch schedule, targeting multiple New Glenn flights per week by the end of the decade. The plan includes a $330 million manufacturing expansion, additional launch pads, and new facilities for payload processing and booster refurbishment.

The company says it has invested more than $3 billion in Florida infrastructure. Its operations now span more than 20 sites across Brevard and Orange counties, supported by over 5,000 employees and 500 suppliers.

The expansion aims to address a central challenge in commercial spaceflight: increasing launch frequency requires more than additional rockets. Manufacturers must produce hardware faster, ground crews must prepare missions in parallel, and reusable boosters must return to service efficiently.

Blue Origin is expanding Rocket Park, its 1.37-million-square-foot manufacturing campus near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A $330 million project will add capacity for producing New Glenn’s 9×4 second stage.

Scheduled for completion in summer 2027, the expansion will support annual production of up to 150 upper stages. That output would provide substantial manufacturing capacity as the company pursues a higher flight rate.

The factory is also gaining automated machining, welding, material handling, and inspection systems. These technologies can improve production consistency and help workers identify defects earlier.

Additional investments in chemical processing, fairing preparation, tooling, and storage will support the movement of hardware through the manufacturing process. Blue Origin also aims to produce nearly all its components and systems in-house, while maintaining support from external suppliers.

Manufacturing more rocket hardware will not increase launch frequency unless teams can prepare several missions simultaneously.


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