CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin’s highly anticipated first launch of its new rocket was called off early Monday due to technical difficulties.
The New Glenn rocket, which stands at 320 feet (98 meters) tall, was scheduled to take off in the pre-dawn hours with a prototype satellite from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
However, in the final countdown minutes, launch controllers encountered an unspecified issue with the rocket, leading them to halt the countdown and subsequently drain all fuel from the vehicle to ensure safety.
As of now, Blue Origin has not provided a new launch date, indicating that further time is needed to troubleshoot and resolve the underlying problem.
The test flight had already faced delays previously due to rough sea conditions that threatened the company’s plans for a successful landing of the first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
The New Glenn rocket is named in honor of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.
It is considerably larger, being five times taller than Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, which is designed to carry paying passengers just beyond the edge of space from Texas.
Founded by Jeff Bezos of Amazon 25 years ago, Blue Origin has been on a mission to advance space travel.
Bezos participated in the Monday countdown from Mission Control, located at the company’s rocket factory near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of Orlando, Florida.
In response to the setback, Bezos expressed confidence during a statement on Sunday evening, asserting, “we’re going to pick ourselves up and keep going,” demonstrating a commitment to overcoming challenges in their endeavors.
