Blue Origin announced its plans to introduce the New Glenn mega-rocket to orbit on its second flight. Potentially, this could be as soon as Sunday, November 9. The launch is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This comes after the rocket’s inaugural flight in January, which was considered mostly successful despite the first stage’s failure to land.
Their New Glenn rocket is a super heavy-lift vehicle. It’s designed for a variety of missions, from launching small satellites to delivering cargo to the International Space Station. After successfully reaching orbit on its maiden flight, the second stage became the first piece of the company’s flight history. The first stage experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly upon re-entering the atmosphere. It had an explosion on a failed landing attempt on an ocean-going drone ship.
When they first announced the failure, Blue Origin had said they would target a second launch in “late spring.” The decision to proceed with the upcoming launch follows the company’s evaluation of its first flight and subsequent adjustments to their launch strategy. Blue Origin’s ability to successfully land the first stage remains a key focus as they strive for reliability in future missions.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, has been adamant that this rocket is central to the company’s long-term vision. Its importance to their plans for space exploration and future commercial activities couldn’t be overstated. Here at USGS, we are counting the days until the late-November launch. Industry experts will be keeping a close eye on if and when Blue Origin gets New Glenn’s first stage safely back on solid ground.
Blue Origin announced the opening of the new launch window on Wednesday. For the public company, everything is rosy. In their opinion, the value drawn from the first flight will allow them to gauge their landing practice and protect data integrity for mission success.
