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Origin BlueNew Glenn’s inaugural mission is finally ready to launch, with the (theoretically) reusable rocket ready to embark on its maiden flight from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Station within hours. Although the launch was delayed for several days due to unfavorable weather, it seems that the conditions are right to find out what New Glenn can finally do.
New Glenn is Blue Origin’s first orbital rocket, and has been in development for more than a decade. The company’s previous spacecraft such as the New Shepard are attached closer to Karmán linea boundary about 62 miles (100 km) above the Earth that some have adopted as the beginning of space. In contrast, New Glenn aims to break through that barrier, reaching a maximum altitude of about 12,000 miles (19,300 km).
As such, New Glenn is significantly larger than New Shepard, over 320 feet (98 m) high compared to the last 63 feet (19m).
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Credit: Blue Origin
New Glenn will not carry human passengers on its maiden voyage. Instead, the goal of the New Glenn-1 mission is to see if it can actually reach orbit safely, as well as to test the technology for Blue Origin’s proposed Blue Origin space platform. It also aims to begin the certification process to allow New Glenn to carry military payloads into space. This will allow Blue Origin to enter into military contracts with the US Department of Defense, giving it a little more competition for Space X.
Of course, Blue Origin hopes to land the New Glenn booster intact as well, with a landing strip currently ready in the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission’s three-hour launch window opens Monday at 1 am EST / Sunday 10 pm PST, with the webcast live now. Watch Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch on Blue Origin’s YouTube channel here:
