CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin is preparing for another attempt to launch its large New Glenn rocket, potentially as early as Thursday, after cancelling its initial debut due to ice accumulating in essential plumbing components.
The 320-foot (98-meter) New Glenn rocket was slated for a pre-dawn launch on Monday carrying a prototype satellite. However, ice formed in a purge line associated with a unit that powers various hydraulic systems of the rocket. Launch coordinators noted that they could not resolve the issue in the allotted time.
The company, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, decided to further postpone the launch in light of a poor weather forecast for Cape Canaveral on Tuesday, along with a scheduled SpaceX moon mission on Wednesday. The initial test flight had already faced delays due to hazardous sea conditions that complicated plans to land the rocket’s first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
New Glenn is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. Standing at five times the height of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket—which transports paying customers to the edge of space from Texas—this new rocket represents a significant step forward in the company’s ambitions.
Bezos, who established Blue Origin 25 years ago, participated in the countdown at Mission Control located near the company’s rocket manufacturing facility adjacent to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Regardless of the outcome, Bezos expressed a commitment to resilience, stating over the weekend, “We’re going to pick ourselves up and keep going.”