Blue Origin reschedules New Glenn rocket launch to Thursday
What's the story
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos's aerospace company, has announced a new launch date for its New Glenn rocket. The company was originally scheduled to launch the rocket on Monday at around 1:30pm IST but has now delayed the launch to Thursday. The New Glenn rocket has seen multiple delays now with yesterday's liftoff being called off due to a "vehicle subsystem issue."
Rescheduled launch
New Glenn rocket launch now set for Thursday
The rescheduled launch of the New Glenn rocket as part of NG-1 mission will now take place between 1am ET and 4am ET (around 11:30am IST) on Thursday. Blue Origin had intended to launch earlier, however, the scheduled launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying two private lunar landers on Wednesday morning necessitated a delay in Blue Origin's plans. The space company will provide live coverage of the much-anticipated debut via a webcast on its website.
About the rocket
New Glenn is 2-stage aircraft
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is a two-stage behemoth powered by cutting-edge engines. The first stage, known as GS1, utilizes a cluster of seven BE-4 engines, each generating an impressive 550,000 pounds of thrust. These engines are renowned for being the most powerful liquid natural gas (LNG)-fueled engines ever developed. The second stage, designated as GS2, relies on a pair of BE-3U engines for propulsion. 2 These engines utilize a combination of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants.
Mission highlights
NG-1 mission has 2 primary objectives
The NG-1 mission aims to achieve orbit and land the first-stage booster on the drone ship "Jacklyn" 1,000km away in the Atlantic Ocean - a first for Blue Origin. The upper stage carries the Defense Department's "Blue Ring" spacecraft for a six-hour orbital test flight, a crucial step toward securing Space Force contracts. Blue Origin has secured NASA contracts for Mars missions and Amazon's Project Kuiper, competing with SpaceX in these sectors