Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is ready for liftoff. After some weather-related delays over the weekend, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos said the $2.5 billion reusable rocket, which has been nearly 13 years in development, will direct its first launch before Monday, January 13. Three of them. -hour launch window starts at 1AM ET. The webcast will begin an hour before the launch, and you can watch the New Glenn fly on Blue Origin’s website, iX or the company’s YouTube channel.
New Glenn’s first mission (NG-1) will serve as the Space Force’s first safety certification flight, needed to compete with the likes of SpaceX for the Department of Defense and national intelligence contracts. Its reusable first stage is designed for at least 25 aircraft. Blue Origin has a few New Glenn vehicles in production.
Blue Origin describes the New Glenn as “our largest, reusable rocket built for big things.” The “big” bit is appropriate: The rocket stands more than 320 ft (98 m) high. As for its “big things,” which include the metaphorical (like possible missions to Mars) and the literal: It can carry more than 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) and 13 to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). . In comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy competitor can lift about 64 metric tons to LEO and about 27 to GTO orbit.
On its first mission, New Glenn will carry the company’s multi-purpose Blue Ring Pathfinder prototype. The craft is designed to transport, refuel and host satellites and other spacecraft and can carry up to three metric tons of space cargo. Friday’s launch will test Blue Ring’s flight/ground systems and capabilities.
After the New Glenn takes off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, its reusable first stage will land on the boat, “Jacklyn,” floating several hundred miles in the Atlantic Ocean.
New Glenn, named after pioneering astronaut John Glenn, completed the first-ever rocket launch exercise on December 27. After several launch attempts over several hours, the rocket’s seven BE-4 engines ignited and fired for 24 seconds (spending 13 seconds at 100 percent). thrust), paving the way for Friday’s target launch. The rocket’s first flight was scheduled for October, carrying two NASA satellites to Mars, but the launch was canceled because it would not be ready at that time.