The livestream is on: New Blue Origin rocket ahead of its first launch
Blue Origin doesn't just want to compete with SpaceX with New Glenn. But first the rocket has to fly. After delays, the time has now come.
New Glenn before its maiden flight
(Image: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin has once again postponed the planned launch of its new high-performance rocket, but it is now scheduled for early Monday morning European time. As the weather conditions did not improve significantly over the weekend either, the launch is now scheduled to take place at 1 a.m. local time or 7 a.m. Central European Time. A three-hour launch window will then open, during which the newly developed rocket named "New Glenn" will take off. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company is also offering a livestream, which was supposed to start an hour before the actual launch and is now running.
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New Glenn is around 100 meters high and has been under development for more than ten years. It should one day be able to transport around 45 tons of material into low Earth orbit, which is 20 tons less than the Falcon Heavy from competitor SpaceX. The rocket, named after the US astronaut John Glenn, is loaded with a spaceship structure called the "Blue Ring" for its maiden flight. Among other things, the flight is intended to test the communication capabilities of "Blue Ring" with engineers on Earth. Together with the second rocket stage, it will reach a medium Earth orbit with a maximum distance of 19,300 kilometers from Earth.
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Similar to SpaceX, Blue Origin will also attempt to land the first rocket stage gently after launch on a floating platform called "Jacklyn", which is waiting in the Atlantic. With other rockets, including the European Ariane 6 launcher, for example, these engines simply fall into the sea and are lost. "We know that it is ambitious to land the ignition stage back in the Atlantic on the first attempt, but we are trying," said Blue Origin. If these parts of the rocket can be reused, the costs of rocket launches can be reduced.
Bad weather again and again recently
Mission chief Jarrett Jones had previously explained that they simply had to fly now: "No matter what happens: We will learn, rework and apply our knowledge to the next launch." After the rocket was originally scheduled to take off in the fall, the launch was finally planned for last Friday. However, due to strong winds and high waves in the part of the Atlantic where the first stage was to make a soft landing, the launch attempt was then postponed until Sunday at the earliest. At the weekend, the next postponement was made until Monday.
(mho)
