Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin postponed the launch of its New Glenn rocket on Monday after identifying “a few anomalies” during the mission countdown.
Initially scheduled for 1:00 am ET, the launch was delayed as the company pushed back the liftoff time, eventually moving the window to 4:00 am, before announcing the delay due to a vehicle subsystem issue.
Blue Origin stated that troubleshooting the issue would extend the delay beyond the launch window, potentially lasting 24 hours or longer. The New Glenn rocket, which stands 30 stories tall and is partially reusable, was set to carry the first prototype of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring spacecraft for national security and satellite servicing missions.
The mission is critical for Blue Origin’s competition with SpaceX, as it aims to land the New Glenn booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean after liftoff while the second stage continues toward orbit. Bezos emphasized the high-risk nature of the mission, particularly the booster landing, and called it “icing on the cake” if successful.
The development of New Glenn, a multi-billion-dollar project spanning a decade, has been delayed multiple times, including a leadership change in late 2023 to accelerate progress. New Glenn is designed to be more powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and is expected to secure billions in customer contracts
