
BE-4 Engine Milestone. Blue Origin says it has conducted the first test firing of its full-scale BE-4 engine. “First hotfire of our BE-4 engine is a success,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tweeted Oct. 19. “Huge kudos to the whole Blue Origin team for this important step.” Blue Origin is developing the engine to power its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket. The BE-4 is also considered the leading contender to power the first stage of United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan medium- to…