Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket hit a significant milestone this week, completing its first second-stage hot fire test that validates the interactions between the subsystems, its two BE-3U engines, and the ground control systems.

Blue Origin carried out a hotfire test for its New Glenn rocket second stage on Monday (Sept. 23) as the company moves toward the huge vehicle's debut flight.

The static test fire at Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral SFS marked Blue Origin’s first fueling of a New Glenn rocket stage with flight propellants, and the first engine burn of an integrated flight stage.

Twenty days after it rolled out to Blue Origin's launch site in Florida, the second stage of the massive New Glenn rocket underwent a successful hot-fire test on Monday. The second stage—known as GS2 for Glenn stage 2—ignited for 15 seconds as part of the "risk reduction" hot-fire test,