Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, and the rocket company is poised for its most defining moment to date: sending a vehicle to orbit for the first time. Via CNN:
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is set to make its inaugural launch attempt as soon as 1 a.m. ET Monday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. A live stream of the mission is slated to kick off about an hour before liftoff on the social media platform X, Blue Origin’s YouTube channel, and its website, the company said via email.
The new target launch time was announced after Blue Origin chose to wave off plans to get New Glenn off the ground in the early hours of Sunday morning. The company said weather conditions at sea, where the company hopes to recover part of the rocket after launch, prompted the 24-hour delay.
The roughly 320-foot (98-meter) New Glenn is not only the first Blue Origin rocket designed to be capable of hauling satellites to space, it’s also among the most powerful in the world. Categorized as a heavy-lift launch vehicle, it packs more than twice the power that SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket gives off during takeoff.
The uncrewed New Glenn mission will carry Blue Origin-made demonstration technology, called the Blue Ring Pathfinder, to orbit.
If successful, New Glenn’s launch debut could position Blue Origin to better compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX — which has long dominated the commercial launch sector.
