The Blue Origin New Glenn rocket sits at Launch Complex 36 ahead of its scheduled launch early the morning of Jan. 13 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin on Monday canceled the inaugural launch of its New Glenn rocket due to last-minute problems with the vehicle, a blow to its attempts to compete in the satellite space with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Liftoff was scheduled for 1 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
“We are pausing today's launch attempt to address a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond the launch window,” Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin's vice president of space systems, said during a live broadcast of the planned launch.
She added that Blue Origin is considering options for another launch attempt. During its Monday mission, the rocket ambitiously intended to land the first-stage booster on the Jacklyn ship at sea in the Atlantic Ocean for future reuse, with the rocket's second stage still in orbit.
For the test flight – which often requires iterations before rockets can be trusted with national security payloads – New Glenn was to carry the company's Blue Ring spacecraft, which can maneuver to multiple orbits and locations and accept and deploy payloads.
“The launch team is now working to refuel and secure the vehicle. From there, we'll evaluate what other things we want to do in our downtime, and that will give us an indication of when the next opportunity to launch will come. will be,” Cornell noted on Monday.
The 320-foot-tall, partially reusable New Glenn rocket experienced numerous launch delays before the final decision was made to cancel the launch. The mission's initial launch was repeatedly postponed until Monday due to unfavorable sea conditions for a powered landing.
Delays, technical difficulties and failures are not uncommon during inaugural rocket missions. Project Blue Origin stands out for its emphasis on sustainability.
“As a long-term vision, we really need to protect this planet. And the role of space technologies,” Cornell said. “That's why we started with reusable rockets and engines.”
The path to Blue Origin's first full-scale foray into orbit included three CEO appointments since the company's founding in 2000 and several suborbital launches carrying space tourists on the company's $2.5 billion New Shepard. Blue Origin's methane-burning BE-4 engines – present at New Glenn – were also used on United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket, which reached orbit twice last year.
More and more billionaires from the technology industry he wanted to go on space exploration — a traditional, prestigious range of government programs — offering commercial opportunities in both satellite launches and space tourism.
Musk's SpaceX has dominated this field in recent years with bragging rights A total of 433 launches on January 13 and whose goal is to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on Monday. Meanwhile, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic took the first space tourists to the edge of space in 2023.