Head to head

New Glenn vs Space Shuttle

Two vehicles in the same payload class. Every figure below comes from the same two sources for both rockets, and a row appears only when both publish the input.

Payload to low Earth orbit

Relative

New Glenn: 45,000 kg

Space Shuttle: 27,500 kg

Side by side

7 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	New Glenn	Space Shuttle
Flights flown	3	135
Success rate	66.7%	98.5%
Payload to LEO (kg)	45,000	27,500
Liftoff thrust (kN)	17,126	28,200
Length (m)	98	56.1
Diameter (m)	7	8
Stages	2	2

New Glenn

Flight record

66.7% success rate2 of 3 flown · 1 failed

2025peak 2026 · 4 flights2026

Maiden flight 2025-01-16. Still flying.

Space Shuttle

Flight record

98.5% success rate133 of 135 flown · 2 failed

1981peak 1985 · 9 flights2011

Maiden flight 1981-04-12. Retired.

New Glenn is built by Blue Origin of the United States (company profile on Space Index).Space Shuttle is built by National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: New Glenn · Space Shuttle.

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.