Blue Origin’s Big Step Forward
Blue Origin has announced that their New Glenn rocket is ready for its first launch following a successful test.
The seven BE-4 engines at the base of New Glenn roared to life on December 27th at around 8 p.m. Eastern time. This happened at Launch Complex 36 in Florida. The engines were fired up for 24 seconds, with a portion of that time at full power. Earlier in the day, it seemed like Blue Origin was prepping for ignition multiple times but waited until later.
The team had been busy with various tests before this, including filling the rocket with fuel and practicing countdowns. During the day, they didn’t share many details about what was happening, leaving people curious. Their tests aimed to mimic actual launch day activities and ensure everything worked smoothly on the ground and on the rocket itself.
Now that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given them the go-ahead, Blue Origin can launch New Glenn from Cape Canaveral. This license doesn’t spell out every single detail of how the launches will go, though.
Kelvin Coleman from the FAA mentioned, “By working closely with Blue Origin, the FAA issued this new launch license well in advance of the statutory deadline for the historic maiden flight of New Glenn.”
With everything set, Blue Origin is gearing up for their first big launch as early as January. Dave Limp from Blue Origin said online, “Well, all we have left to do is mate our encapsulated payload…and then LAUNCH!” Jeff Bezos chimed in with, “Next stop launch.”
Next stop launch
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos)
For the recent test, Blue Origin used some parts just for practice and a dummy payload to simulate weight. They’ll swap these out for real parts and a small payload called the Blue Ring Pathfinder, which is important for future missions.
We think it’s really cool to see how companies like Blue Origin push the limits of space exploration.
The exact date for the first flight, named NG-1, is not clear yet. There is an airspace notice for January 6th, between 1 a.m. and 4:45 a.m. Eastern, with another chance the next day if needed.
Originally, they wanted to launch New Glenn in 2024. They stuck to this plan even when they changed the payload to Blue Ring Pathfinder instead of NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, which was taken off because the rocket wouldn’t be ready in time.
