Blue Origin is preparing for the third launch of its powerful New Glenn rocket. It is scheduled for Friday, April 17. The NG-3 mission is significant. This time, the company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos aims to demonstrate that the first stage of the New Glenn rocket can be reused multiple times. During the third flight, a booster that was used during the second New Glenn flight in November 2025 will be utilized, reports [Focus](https://focus.ua/technologies/750754-gonka-milliarderov-za-dengi-nasa-raketa-starship-poka-proigryvaet-new-glenn-foto). The crucial launch of the New Glenn rocket comes amid difficulties for SpaceX, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, with the launch of the Starship V3 (Version 3) rocket. This is an upgraded version of the rocket, which has improved characteristics compared to Starship V2. As Focus previously reported, Elon Musk stated that the launch, which was supposed to take place in April, has been postponed to May. It is worth noting that SpaceX has already conducted 11 launches of the Starship V2 rocket, but all of them were test flights, while Blue Origin has already completed 2 operational launches of the New Glenn rocket into space. The new version of Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, while New Glenn is smaller in size and has a lower payload capacity. After the successful completion of NASA's lunar mission "Artemis-2," the U.S. space agency is already preparing for the "Artemis-3" mission. In 2027, the Orion spacecraft with astronauts will be launched into low Earth orbit by the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. In orbit, the Orion spacecraft is expected to dock with two lunar landers so that NASA can verify their readiness to deliver astronauts to the Moon in 2028 as part of the "Artemis-4" mission. These lunar landers are being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin. The Starship V3 and New Glenn rockets are integral to this development. SpaceX's Starship lander will be a modified version of the upper stage V3, while Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander will be designed for launch aboard New Glenn. SpaceX will not be able to start developing the Starship lander until V3 demonstrates reliability and the capability for in-orbit refueling. However, Blue Origin also needs to hurry, as to send the Blue Moon module into space, the New Glenn rocket must prove its reliability, meaning more launches must take place. Currently, it seems that Blue Origin is ahead of SpaceX in terms of readiness for the NASA mission. If SpaceX wants to maintain its contract with NASA, the company needs to launch Starship V3 as soon as possible. NASA hopes to test both landers in low Earth orbit next year, but if Blue Moon is ready on time and Starship is not, it is unlikely that NASA will wait for SpaceX to catch up.