The maiden flight of the New Glenn rocket is once again postponed due to maritime conditions.
The inaugural flight scheduled for Sunday of New Glenn, Blue Origin’s large rocket, from the Cape Canaveral base in Florida (southeast United States), is postponed due to maritime conditions.
“Maritime conditions are still unfavorable for landing the booster” on a barge in the Atlantic, the company said on X on Saturday.
Another launch window is scheduled for Monday at 1:00 a.m. local (06:00 GMT).
After years of design and multiple postponements, the first flight of New Glenn, a 98 meter high rocket, the size of a building of around 30 floors, is supposed to be a turning point for the company founded by the American billionaire Jeff Bezos, and potentially the private space industry.
The objective of this launch is to “reach orbit. Anything beyond is a bonus”, underlined David Limp, CEO of Blue Origin.
First flight into orbit to catch up with rival SpaceX
If the company of the founder of Amazon has already been taking tourists for a few minutes into space for years thanks to its smaller New Shepard rocket, it has so far not carried out any flight into orbit.
With New Glenn, larger and more powerful, Blue Origin aims to catch up with its great rival SpaceX, which belongs to another American billionaire, Elon Musk. The Tesla boss’s company has dominated the commercial space market for years with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, and is now developing the largest rocket ever created: Starship.
