KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Space fans along the Space Coast are eager to catch a glimpse of history.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is slated for its inaugural launch early Thursday morning from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 3-hour window opened at 1 a.m.
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Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket set for Thursday launch
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is slated for its inaugural launch early Thursday morning from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 3-hour window opened at 1 a.m.
Blue Origin scrubbed a launch on Monday, citing a "vehicle subsystem issue." Launch has also been delayed a few times by unfavorable weather conditions.
What is the Maiden Flight mission?
What we know:
The maiden flight of the New Glenn launch vehicle will carry the prototype Blue Ring payload tug along with a payload hoisting platform.
The platform includes a communications array, power systems, and a flight computer mounted on a secondary payload adapter ring, which will remain attached to the second stage.
This mission will also serve as New Glenn's first certification flight for National Security Space Launch.
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Why was New Glenn launch delayed?
Dig deeper:
The 320-foot (98-meter) New Glenn rocket was supposed to blast off before dawn Monday with a prototype satellite. But ice formed in a purge line for a unit powering some of the rocket’s hydraulic systems and launch controllers ran out of time to clear it, according to the company.
Blue Origin further delayed the launch because of Tuesday’s poor weather forecast for Cape Canaveral and a moonshot planned Wednesday by SpaceX.
The test flight already had been postponed by rough seas that posed a risk to Blue Origin’s plan to land the first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic.
When is the launch window?
Timeline:
According to Blue Origin, the launch window will open at 1 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 16, and will remain open for three hours. If unable to launch, Blue Origin will make an attempt on Friday, Jan. 17, in the same 1-4 a.m. EST
As people on the Space Coast focus on the skies directly overhead, weather must also be favorable hundreds of miles away in the middle of the ocean, shortly after launch.
After New Glenn lifts off from Launch Complex 36, Blue Origin plans to land the first-stage on the floating platform "Jacklyn," in the Atlantic Ocean.
"There’s a lot of waves and you’re trying to land a rocket on a drone ship," said space journalist Dr. Ken Kremer. "It’s not easy."
Historic launch draws space enthusiasts to coast
What they're saying:
The historic launch has drawn crowds from far and wide.
Don Moodey is visiting from Toronto.
"The other Starlink ones are getting pretty normal around here," Moodey said. "So hopefully this one’s a little bigger boom."
The Rutledge family is visiting from Nova Scotia. Wife Sheila said she does not miss a launch.
"Even though you’re excited, you want it to be perfect," Rutledge said.
Local space fan John Aviles said he just hopes weather doesn't get in the way again.
"We see we got clouds out so hopefully we can see it," Aviles said. "With the clouds, it goes in the clouds and forget about it. It’s gone. How can we see it?"
What is Blue Origin?
The backstory:
Blue Origin, a privately funded aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, focuses on developing reusable rockets, advancing human spaceflight capabilities, and innovating cutting-edge space technologies.
Blue Origin has successfully completed nine human spaceflights and 28 flights as part of the New Shepard Program. New Shepard has now flown 47 people into space three of which have flown twice.
The New Glenn rocket is the end result of Blue Origin's 10-year project to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by Blue Origin and reporting by the Associated Press.