Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’ space venture, has hit another snag with the highly anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket. Initially slated for an early Monday liftoff, the 30-story rocket faced delays due to a technical issue that engineers scrambled to resolve.
After a day of silence, the company announced via social media that a second attempt could occur during a three-hour window starting at 1 a.m. ET Tuesday. But within hours, Blue Origin reversed course, pushing the launch to no earlier than Thursday, January 16, citing unfavorable weather conditions as a potential spoiler for the overnight attempt.
The delay stems from a technical hiccup that emerged during Monday’s countdown. Engineers identified ice forming in a purge line of an auxiliary power unit as the culprit, which plays a crucial role in powering the rocket’s hydraulic systems. “We are standing down from today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue,” said Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s vice president of in-space systems.
Despite the setback, Blue Origin remains optimistic about the rescheduled attempt, which will see another early-morning window from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. ET on Thursday. The inaugural flight of the New Glenn is pivotal for Blue Origin’s ambitions to carve out a space in the satellite launch market, aiming to challenge SpaceX’s dominance.
Meanwhile, the week is shaping up to be a busy one for spaceflight. SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying two lunar landers from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, right next door to Cape Canaveral, early Wednesday morning. The company is also preparing for the seventh test flight of its massive Starship rocket the same day.
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