Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket launch: how and when to watch

Blue Origin is preparing for its biggest launch ever, but the attempt failed Monday morning. cleaned due to technical reasons after several delays during the three-hour launch window. The window originally opened at 1:00 a.m. ET.

It’s unclear when the commercial space company owned by Jeff Bezos will next attempt to send its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket into space for the first time.

The launch of New Glenn comes after nearly a decade of development, and its outcome could threaten the dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX – not only in the commercial space industry but also in the field of satellite Internet. Here’s an overview of what you need to know about the New Glenn flight and how to watch it live.

First announced in 2016Blue Origin’s New rocket Glenn designed to deliver cargo, satellites and, in the future, people into space. New Glenn is named after John Glenn, first NASA astronaut to orbit the Earth.

Its first stage is driven by seven Powerful BE-4 engines from Blue Originwhich operate on liquefied natural gas and liquid oxygen. Blue Origin intends to reuse New Glenn’s first stage for at least 25 missions because it is designed to land vertically on an offshore platform after launch, allowing the company to return it.

The rocket’s upper stage is expendable and carries Blue Origin’s payload. It is capable of sending 13 tons to geostationary transfer orbit and 45 tons to low Earth orbit. Blue Origin says New Glenn is also “designed with the safety and redundancy needed for human flight.” Although Blue Origin originally planned to launch New Glenn in 2020, its first flight continued to push away due to problems with BE-4 engine development And other technical problems.

How noted NPRNew Glenn’s payload capacity is similar to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, but it features a larger, 23-foot-wide cargo bay. If New Glenn’s launch is successful, it could intensify competition with SpaceX as both companies compete for lucrative government contracts.

New Glenn is also the key to Amazon Project Kuiper Satellite Internet Initiative. Although the company’s first set of satellites is planned to be launched launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this year, Blue Origin will eventually launch Kuiper satellites aboard New Glenn, competing with SpaceX’s Starlink. Amazon plans to send 3,236 Kuiper satellites into space, which is still far fewer than Growing Starlink constellation more than 6000 satellites.

New Glenn is scheduled to take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a three-hour launch window on January 13 at 1:00 a.m. Eastern Time (10:00 p.m. Pacific Time). The launch was originally scheduled for January 10, but was delayed due to “high sea levels in the Atlantic.” from January 1st to January 12th And then until January 13 as “still unfavorable” conditions persisted.

During this unmanned launch, New Glenn will have Blue Ring Ranger On board is a payload consisting of a communications system, a power supply system and an on-board computer. He will check Blue Ring spacecraftwhich will help support missions with refueling, hosting, data relay and cloud computing. The goal is for New Glenn to reach orbit, and “anything beyond that,” such as landing a reusable launch vehicle, is a “bonus.” according to Blue Origin CEO David Limp.

“This is our first flight, and we have prepared thoroughly for it,” Jarrett Jones, senior vice president of New Glenn, said in a statement. “But no amount of ground testing or flight simulation can replace the flight of this rocket. It’s time to fly. Whatever happens, we will learn, improve and apply this knowledge to our next launch.”

Blue Origin will broadcast the launch live from its websitehis X accountand him YouTube channel. The YouTube stream is embedded at the top of this article.

Update January 13: Noted that the launch was cleared.