Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin set to launch its first orbital rocket — the powerful New Glenn
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Nearly a quarter century after Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, the rocket company is poised for its most defining moment to date: sending a vehicle to orbit for the first time.
Nearly a quarter century after Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin, the rocket company is poised for its most defining moment to date: sending a vehicle to orbit for the first time.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is set to make its inaugural launch attempt as soon as 1 a.m. ET Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. A live stream of the mission is slated to kick off about an hour before liftoff on Blue Origin’s YouTube channel and its website, the company said via email.
The roughly 320-foot (98-meter) New Glenn is not only the first Blue Origin rocket designed to be capable of hauling satellites to space, it’s also among the most powerful in the world. Categorized as a heavy-lift launch vehicle, it packs more than twice the power that SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket gives off during takeoff.
Friday’s uncrewed New Glenn mission will carry Blue Origin-made demonstration technology, called the Blue Ring Pathfinder, to orbit.
If successful, New Glenn’s launch debut could position Blue Origin to better compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX — which has long dominated the commercial launch sector.
If all goes according to plan, the New Glenn rocket will fire up seven BE-4 engines at the base of its first-stage rocket booster, which is the largest part of the vehicle that gives the first burst of power at liftoff.
A few minutes into flight, after burning through most of its fuel, the booster will detach from the upper portion of the rocket, which includes the vehicle’s nose cone, or payload fairing, that’s designed to shield cargo during liftoff.
