A private space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos has postponed the planned launch of its new giant rocket.
Blue Origin was counting down toward the launch of its first New Glenn heavy-lift rocket at 1:00 a.m. EST (0600 GMT) on Friday (Jan. 10), but rough weather in the Atlantic Ocean — where part of the rocket is expected to land — forced a two-day delay. The launch is now set for Sunday (Jan. 12) at the same time from Blue Origin's pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. You'll be able to watch the New Glenn launch live on Space.com, courtesy of Blue Origin.
"We're shifting our NG-1 launch date to no earlier than January 12 due to a high sea state in the Atlantic where we hope to land our booster," Blue Origin wrote in a statement on the social media site X today (Jan. 9). "Our three-hour window remains the same, opening Sunday at 1 a.m. EST (0600 UTC)."
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is the company's first orbital-class launch vehicle. It stands a towering 320 feet tall (98 meters). It features a reusable first stage designed to return to Earth after launch and land on a barge named Jacklyn, after Jeff Bezos' mother, in the Atlantic Ocean.
It's that booster landing goal that prompted Blue Origin to postpone the New Glenn launch. Company officials are hoping to land the booster on the first try, even if the odds are long for success.
"We know landing the booster on our first try offshore in the Atlantic is ambitious — but we’re going for it," company officials wrote in an announcement.
New Glenn is designed to be a workhorse rocket for Blue Origin, which has already lined up contracts with customers such as launching a mission to Mars for NASA and a series of Amazon's Kuiper internet satellites. By reusing the first stage, the company hopes to lower the costs of such missions.
Blue Origin rival SpaceX, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, regularly lands the first stages of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets for later reuse. Each New Glenn first stage is designed to fly at least 25 times, Blue Origin has said.
If Blue Origin is unable to launch New Glenn on Sunday, the company could potentially try again through Jan. 16 based on a Notice To Airmen update from the FAA warning of potential mission activity through that time.
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