Blue Origin New Glenn launch flight was scrubbed.
[Blue Origin[ We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window. We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.
It will carry the prototype DarkSky-1 Blue Ring Pathfinder, consisting of communications array, power systems, and a flight computer affixed to a secondary payload adapter ring, remaining attached to the 2nd stage. This launch will serve as New Glenn’s first National Security Space Launch certification flight. New Glenn will attempt a first stage landing on rocket landing platform Jacklyn.
Blue Origin has live coverage of the launch.
Window Opens: January 13th at 1:00AM EST (06:00 UTC)
Window Closes: January 13th at 4:00AM EST (09:00 UTC)
Launch is now about 3:15AM EST
Blue Origin started the development of an orbital rocket system prior to 2012, and stating in 2013 on their website that the first stage would do a powered vertical landing and be reusable, Blue Origin publicly announced their orbital launch vehicle intentions in September 2015. In January 2016, Blue Origin indicated that the new rocket would be many times larger than New Shepard even though it would be the smallest of the family of Blue Origin orbital vehicles. Blue Origin publicly released the high-level design of the vehicle and announced the name New Glenn—with both two-stage and three-stage variants planned—in September 2016.
SpaceX conducted Falcon Heavy’s maiden launch on 6 February 2018, at 20:45 UTC. This flight is nearly 7 years later.
Best wishes to Blue Origin and New Glenn to get a partially reusable Falcon Heavy class vehicle into operation.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
Congratulations to Blue Origin! They finally put something in orbit, though they did lose the booster.
In recognition of the fact that they have finally put something into orbit, I’ll stop thinking of them as Body Odor, and acknowledge them as a real rocket company. Let’s hope they can keep it up, and develop more of a sense of urgency, so as to be real competition for SpaceX.
Launch scrubbed due to a “subsystem issue”.
And THAT is why you don’t wait until you think everything is perfect with the pieces before you put them together and test them.