Blue Origin flagship rocket set to debut in crucial SpaceX challenge

By Loren Grush

 

Blue Origin LLC’s new flagship rocket is poised to blast off for the first time in a crucial test of the Jeff Bezos-backed firm’s ability to challenge SpaceX’s ironclad grip on the launch market.  

New Glenn, originally intended to launch as early as 2020, is set to lift off as soon as Monday out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a three-hour launch window that begins at 1 a.m. local time. That reflects a one-day delay due to sea conditions, according to a post on X.

 

The mission aims to put a Blue Origin test satellite into orbit and then land the rocket’s lower portion on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

 

The flight will serve as a critical demonstration for Blue Origin, which has struggled for years to execute on its ambitious plans for space exploration. Though the company has shuttled paying tourists to the edge of space and back, it’s lacked the capability of sending people and satellites to orbit. 

 

That stands in stark contrast to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has been in operation for much of the same time as Blue Origin but has far surpassed Bezos’ firm in launch capability. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is the most prolific orbital vehicle globally. 

 

Like Musk, Bezos is one of the world’s richest people with numerous business interests. He founded Amazon.com Inc. and owns the Washington Post.

 

Read More: Bezos Feuded With Trump, But Now Needs Help in Musk Space Race

 

A successful launch of New Glenn would at last put the company in an elite circle of US ventures that can send satellites to orbit, as well as put Blue Origin on a path toward challenging SpaceX’s ironclad grip on the launch market. 

 

But perhaps even more critical for the company, New Glenn stands to become the much needed centerpiece for Bezos and his long-term dreams for the future of spaceflight. In the immediate future, New Glenn will help the company clear a $10 billion backlog in customer contracts. Longer term, Blue Origin plans to use the rocket to launch moon missions and eventually whole industries off the planet.

 

“We need to lower the cost of access to space,” Bezos said at the NYT Dealbook Summit last year. 

 

“We can set up the preconditions where the next generation, or the generation after that, will be able to move polluting industry off Earth, and then this planet will be maintained as it should be,” he added later.