New Glenn counts modules: LC-36 tower module 5 placed; a "rolls to pad for Mars mission" video we can't date
From the Space digest for 2026-10-06
What happened: Dave Limp (RT'd by NSF, ~2:04 PM ET): "LC-36's skyline keeps rising, one module at a time. Module 5 is now placed with four more to go" — the rebuilt vehicle-access tower at 5 of its modules, four weeks after the first re-stack (Sep 29) and the 38-second booster-plumbing static fire (Sep 30). Separately, an MSN video item circulated: Blue Origin's New Glenn "is moved to the launch pad for NASA's ESCAPADE mission to Mars" (undated footage) — which we cannot verify as fresh; EscaPADE in our record is last year's campaign, and this is the same video-page genre Saturday's droneship item was judged against.
What's genuinely new: the rebuild's module arithmetic is now public and on-CEO-record — 5 of 9 with the recovery plumbing already exercised; the RTF-by-year-end pledge (Limp, ledgered) has a visible construction path. The Mars-roll video stays unnews until a trade outlet confirms anything.
Watch: the module sequence → integration → tanking tests → TFR; any NSF/SpaceNews confirmation of a fresh flight (which would resolve the ledgered RTF three months early); the 12→50/yr draft EA's content.
Links: Limp via NSF · NSF (LC-36A) · MSN video (undated)