Blue Origin scrubs second New Glenn launch, will strive once more November 12

Jeff Bezos’ area firm Blue Origin scrubbed the second launch of its New Glenn mega-rocket deliberate for Sunday afternoon as a consequence of considerations with climate, a couple of minor issues with launch pad tools, and not less than one cruise ship that strayed too near the flight path.

The corporate mentioned late Sunday that it’s going to take one other go at launching New Glenn’s second mission on Wednesday, November 12. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced restrictions on area launches late final week because of the authorities shutdown, and Blue Origin mentioned in a publish on X Sunday that it labored with the FAA to make the second try occur. The launch windo opens at 2:50 p.m. ET and lasts till 4:17 p.m. ET.

This mission is a crucial one for Blue Origin for quite a lot of causes.

For one, the corporate continues to be proving out the total reusability of the rocket. New Glenn efficiently reached orbit throughout its first launch in January, however the booster exploded earlier than it might land on a drone ship within the ocean. Blue Origin hopes to land the booster for the primary time throughout this second flight.

That is additionally the primary business mission for New Glenn. The rocket will carry NASA’s ESCAPADE spacecraft into area, the place it is going to embark on a mission to Mars. New Glenn can also be carrying a tech demonstrator for Viasat, which is a part of one other NASA undertaking. Proving New Glenn can safely ship payloads to area — and do it cheaply thanks largely to the rockets reusability — is essential if Blue Origin needs to compete in opposition to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Blue Origin initially deliberate to aim the second launch earlier this 12 months, however delayed it a number of occasions. Sunday’s launch window in Cape Canaveral, Florida initially opened at 2:45 p.m. ET, and the corporate had a window of roughly 90 minutes. The climate worries and the launch pad tools points prompted that launch time to slide a couple of occasions.

With the clock operating once more simply minutes earlier than a launch try, a cruise ship entered the flight path, in keeping with the published. Whereas that ship was anticipated to clear earlier than the 4:15 p.m. ET shut of the launch window, the climate was nonetheless a priority, and prompted the corporate to clean the try.