On Monday, the liftoff of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket was delayed multiple times before it was ultimately aborted due to a technical issue. Staying overnight in the company’s control room on his birthday (Jan. 12) would have been an ideal plan for owner Jeff Bezos if the rocket had successfully launched. However, at 3 a.m. local time in Florida, his engineers decided to give up.
The cause of the delay: a frozen pipe. Hours after the first launch attempt was aborted, Blue Origin explained that ice formed in a purge line and that a power unit used to supply some hydraulic systems failed.
Engineers repeatedly attempted to melt the ice during the three-hour launch window but were unsuccessful. They eventually canceled the flight while the rocket was already loaded with fuel. Interestingly, this isn’t an unprecedented situation. In fact, a similar issue occurred with SpaceX before Starship’s maiden flight.
Second attempt. Blue Origin prepared the rocket for another launch attempt early Monday morning but postponed it again, presumably due to bad weather at Cape Canaveral’s LC-36 pad. Sea conditions are also a factor, given that the rocket’s first stage is set to land on an offshore barge named Jacklyn, after Bezos’ mother.
A new debut date. New Glenn’s new scheduled liftoff date is Thursday, Jan. 16, at 1:00 ET / Wednesday, Jan. 15, at 22:00 PT.
What to expect. Technical challenges are common with a new rocket, especially one as large as New Glenn. The 322-foot launcher, which is the first orbital-capable rocket from Blue Origin, will deploy its second stage to an altitude of 12,000 miles with the Blue Ring Pathfinder test platform on board.
The NG-1 mission will also be Blue Origin’s first certification flight required to launch national security payloads, one of the most lucrative sectors in the U.S. space industry. This marks the beginning of more balanced competition with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and ULA’s Vulcan.
New Glenn is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth. The launch vehicle is a key element of Blue Origin’s ambitious plans, which include deploying a commercial space station, Amazon’s Kuiper satellites, and manned flights to the Moon using the Blue Moon spacecraft.
Image | Blue Origin
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