Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket aims for its first launch, but poor weather could delay the attempt scheduled for early Thursday morning.
Cape Canaveral: Blue Origin is gearing up for its first-ever launch of the New Glenn rocket, but the weather might not cooperate. They’re looking at a launch window early Thursday, but the forecast isn’t looking great.
The New Glenn rocket is a big deal for Jeff Bezos’ company. It’s designed to compete with SpaceX and ULA. The mission, called NG-1, is set to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station between 1 and 4 a.m., with a backup window on Friday.
Unfortunately, the weather squadron is only giving a 40% chance of good conditions for the launch. If they wait a day, the odds improve to 90% for the launch site, but there’s still a chance of bad weather in the Atlantic where they plan to recover the rocket’s booster.
This launch attempt comes after a scrub on Monday due to some issues at the launch pad. They had good weather then, but ice formed on a line that powers some hydraulic systems. Blue Origin tried to fix it but had to call it off.
Last week, they also faced weather delays because of rough conditions in the Atlantic, where they had planned to station their recovery vessel named Jacklyn, after Bezos’ mom.
New Glenn is designed for reuse, similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. The first stages are expected to handle up to 25 flights, but for this debut, landing the booster isn’t the main goal.
Blue Origin’s commentator, Ariane Cornell, emphasized that their main objective is to reach orbit safely. Anything beyond that would be a bonus. They know landing the booster on the first try is ambitious, but they’re going for it. Regardless of the outcome, they plan to learn and improve for future launches.
The payload for this mission won’t be deployed once they reach orbit. It’s just hardware to test communication and telemetry for a system called Blue Ring, which will help with future customer payloads.
This mission is also crucial for gaining Space Force certification, which would allow New Glenn to handle national security missions for the Department of Defense.
Blue Origin has already been approved to compete for contracts alongside SpaceX and ULA, with a potential $5.6 billion up for grabs over the next four years.
They’ve got commercial customers lined up too, including Amazon, which has booked at least 12 launches for its Project Kuiper internet constellation, aiming to rival SpaceX’s Starlink.
NASA is also counting on New Glenn to launch Mars-bound satellites and Blue Moon lunar landers, with one set to be part of the Artemis V mission by 2029.
Bezos has invested billions into Blue Origin, which has only launched its suborbital New Shepard rockets so far. New Glenn stands at 321 feet tall, making it over five times taller than New Shepard.
It’s powered by seven BE-4 engines, which have already proven themselves with ULA’s Vulcan rockets. These engines can produce a whopping 3.85 million pounds of thrust, making New Glenn more powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
New Glenn also boasts the largest cargo space among its competitors, with a nearly 23-foot diameter fairing, compared to the smaller fairings on Falcon 9 and Vulcan rockets.
The rocket stages are built and integrated at Blue Origin’s Rocket Park near Kennedy Space Center. Final preparations, including fueling, happen at LC-36, which Blue Origin took over in 2015, investing about $1 billion in the site.
LC-36 has a rich history, having been used for government launches from 1962 to 2005, including the lunar lander Surveyor 1 in 1967.
