Blue Moon Mark 1

Mission specifications

Operator

Blue Origin

Prime contractor

Blue Origin

Launch

Delayed indefinitely (was NET 2026-07) — New Glenn grounded

Landing site

Lunar south pole region

Customer

NASA-CLPS

Payload

3,000 kg surface payload capacity (21,350 kg wet lander mass)as of 2026-05-28^[1]Lander dimensions: 8.05 m tall × 3.08 m diameter; BE-7 cryogenic engine

Key findings

• 1.Aims to be the first flight test of Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 lander (a ~21,350 kg wet, 8.05 m-tall, 3.08 m-diameter cryogenic vehicle powered by the hydrogen-fueled BE-7 engine), targeting the lunar south pole region.
• 2.Will carry NASA's CLPS payloads — Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) and a Laser Retroreflective Array — to study how the descent engine's exhaust interacts with the lunar surface.
• 3.Intends to demonstrate the critical systems needed for Blue Origin's larger crewed lunar ambitions: the BE-7 engine, cryogenic fluid power and propulsion, avionics, continuous downlink communications, and precision landing to within about 100 meters.
• 4.Completed full-scale thermal-vacuum qualification testing at NASA's Armstrong Test Facility (Plum Brook) around May 2026, validating the lander's ability to withstand the lunar environment.
• 5.Has no firm launch date — now NET late 2026 at the earliest, pending pad repairs. Its New Glenn launch vehicle is grounded after a pre-launch static-fire explosion at LC-36 on 2026-05-28 destroyed a New Glenn and damaged Blue Origin's only New Glenn pad; the prior NG-3 flight (2026-04-19) landed and reflew its booster but suffered a second-stage BE-3U underperformance that left its AST SpaceMobile payload in an off-nominal orbit.

Mission outcome

Blue Moon Pathfinder Mission 1 is intended to be Blue Origin's debut Blue Moon Mark 1 landing on the Moon's south pole, carrying NASA CLPS instruments to study engine-plume/surface interaction and to prove out the BE-7 engine, cryogenic propulsion, and roughly 100-meter precision landing. The lander itself has completed full-scale thermal-vacuum testing at NASA's Armstrong facility, but the mission has no confirmed launch date — now NET late 2026 at the earliest. Its New Glenn rocket is grounded after a 28 May 2026 static-fire explosion at LC-36 that destroyed a vehicle and damaged Blue Origin's only New Glenn pad, compounding an earlier second-stage anomaly on the NG-3 flight in April 2026 (whose booster nonetheless landed and reflew). Success would establish Blue Origin as a lunar-lander provider and validate the technologies underpinning its larger Mark 2 human landing system — but the flight has not yet occurred, and Blue Origin has said only that it aims to return New Glenn to flight before the end of 2026.