Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Now Eyeing Thursday For New Glenn's First Launch To Orbit

Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin said on Monday evening that it is now looking to launch its New Glenn launch vehicle to orbit for the first time no earlier than Thursday, Jan. 16, after scrapping liftoff on Monday morning.

What Happened: The three-hour launch window on Thursday will open at 1 a.m. EST, the company said.

Blue Origin was looking to launch the vehicle on Monday but scrapped it to troubleshoot an issue identified with a vehicle subsystem. The company said later in the day that the issue was identified as ice forming in a purge line on an auxiliary power unit that powers some of its hydraulic systems.

The key objective for the first flight of New Glenn is to reach orbit safely. The company is looking to land the booster of the vehicle in the Atlantic Ocean after launch while the second stage goes into orbit. The company previously said in a statement that the booster landing is "ambitious but we are going for it"

Why It Matters: New Glenn is a reusable heavy-lift rocket named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. The development of the vehicle, expected to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon launch vehicle, has been delayed for years.

New Glenn, unlike Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle, can reach the Earth’s orbit and beyond. New Shepard, meanwhile, can only reach the edge of space.

New Glenn’s first launch, which is expected to include a payload, will also mark the rocket's first National Security Space Launch certification flight.

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Photo courtesy: Blue Origin