Blue Origin Aborts Test Flight Minutes Before Launch

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin called off the certification flight of its New Glenn rocket system minutes before launch on Monday due to last-minute technical problems.

The 320-foot rocket, Blue Origin’s answer to SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9, was due to launch before dawn on Monday morning from Cape Canaveral, on Florida’s east coast.

The company did not specify the nature of the technical problem but indicated it had run out of time to resolve issues before the intended launch.

“We are standing down today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle sub-system issue that will take us beyond our launch window,” Blue Origin vice president of in-space systems Ariane Cornell during a livestream.

Delays

She said the company is reviewing plans for a forthcoming launch attempt.

The firm said it needed more time to resolve the problem before scheduling a new launch.

New Glenn was planned to land a reusable first-stage booster on the ship Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean, with the second stage continuing into orbit.

The test flight was intended to carry the firm’s Blue Ring spacecraft that can travel to multiple orbits and locations while hosting and deploying payloads.

It carried a prototype satellite from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The test flight had already been delayed by rough seas that affected the floating first-stage landing platform.

New Glenn is five times taller than Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket that carries paying customers to the edge of space from Texas.

Both are named after pioneering US astronauts.

Certification flight

The delayed NG-1 mission is intended to be Blue Origin’s first National Security Space Launch certification flight for the giant two-stage rocket, which stands 30 stories tall.

The mission is planned to test Blue Ring’s core flight and ground systems and operational capabilities as part of the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Orbital Logistics prototype effort.

Blue Origin has positioned New Glenn as a rival to the heavy payload carrying capacity of SpaceX’s launch systems, which have carried out 433 launches as of 13 January.

The company has launched and landed its New Shepard rocket carrying Jeff Bezos himself and others since July 2021.

Bezos was present for the countdown at Mission Control and said that whatever happens, “we’re going to pick ourselves up and keep going”.