CAPE CANAVERAL: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin loaded its New Glenn rocket with propellants on Thursday morning for its debut launch from Florida, its second attempt this week to get the rocket into space and rival SpaceX in the satellite launch market.
Thirty stories tall with a reusable first stage filled with liquid oxygen and methane, New Glenn stood on Blue Origin’s launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station under cloudy skies for its inaugural launch, scheduled between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. ET (0600-0900 GMT) Blue Origin set the rocket’s liftoff at 1:35 a.m. ET after pausing the clock for roughly 30 minutes, as US Space Force launch weather models showed a 60% chance of weather forcing a scrub to another day.
“In thrust we trust,” said Blue Origin VP Ariane Cornell on a company live stream, adding weather conditions seemed favorable for launch.
More delays of a few minutes were expected to push liftoff later into its launch window. A wayward boat had drifted into a keep-out zone in the ocean, triggering a pause in the countdown.
The rocket’s first attempt to launch on Monday was scrubbed around 3 a.m. ET because ice had accumulated on a propellant line.
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On Thursday, the company cited no issues ahead of launch. Hundreds of employees gathered at Blue Origin’s Kent, Washington headquarters and its Cape Canaveral, Florida rocket factory, a company live stream showed.
Locals on Florida’s east coast gathered at parks and camp sites several miles from the launchpad awaiting liftoff.
The culmination of a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar development journey, the flight, whenever it takes off, will include an attempt to land New Glenn’s first stage booster on a sea-fairing barge in the Atlantic Ocean 10 minutes after liftoff, while the rocket’s second stage continues toward orbit.
Secured inside New Glenn’s payload bay is the first prototype of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring vehicle, a maneuverable spacecraft the company plans to sell to the Pentagon and commercial customers for national security and satellite servicing missions.
Getting the spacecraft to its intended orbit on an inaugural rocket launch would be a rare achievement for a space company.
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