Blue Origin New Glenn rocket preparing for possible late spring Cape Canaveral launch
Blue Origin has been observed working on the multi-stage orbital rocket to prepare it for this second flight from Cape Canaveral. An exact launch date has not yet been announced.
Not to be confused with Blue Origin's single-stage New Shepard, which launches from Texas, the multi-stage 320-foot-tall New Glenn is the rocket that will bring Bezos' company into the orbital marketplace, currently dominated by SpaceX. And like SpaceX's Falcon 9, New Glenn is built to reuse the first-stage booster by having it land out on Blue Origin's Jacklyn drone ship.
While Blue Origin failed to land the first-stage during the January flight — Jacklyn returned to Port Canaveral empty — Blue Origin wants to try again during this upcoming flight. New Glenn's first-stage is deigned to fly a minimum of 25 times — something Falcon 9 has already accomplished with SpaceX recently landing one for the 27th time.
But while the landing wasn't successful in January, New Glenn's upper-stage successfully delivered the Blue Ring test payload to orbit.
Earlier in April, the second-stage engine was observed traveling from Blue Origin's Merritt Island facilities on Space Commerce Way to the launch facilities in Cape Canaveral.
Then on April 24, Blue Origin conducted a 15-second test fire of the second-stage at the company's Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36. The FLORIDA TODAY Space Team have also observed activity around the launch pad, such as flare stacks burning brightly. Blue Origin's Launch Complex 36 is the only launch pad clearly visible from Brevard beaches.
"January's GS2 performed remarkably during our inaugural New Glenn launch, delivering our payload to orbit with less than 1% deviation from the target. Today, we completed a full duration 15-second hotfire test of the upper stage for our NG-2 mission. This time, we achieved enhanced performance from the BE-3U engine, increasing the maximum thrust from 173,000 lbf to 175,000 lbf per engine, further expanding New Glenn's capabilities for our customers," CEO Dave Limp said in a April 24 post on X.
The payload for this upcoming flight has not yet been revealed, and it is unknown when NASA's EscaPADE mission to Mars will be launching on the rocket. That mission was originally set to launch on the Blue Origin rocket last year.
When is the next launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral
Once operational, New Glenn will also launch Amazon's Project Kuiper internet satellites, which are a competitor to SpaceX's Starlink. Florida just saw the first launch of the Kuiper internet constellation last month atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Massive Blue Origin New Glenn rocket to launch 2nd time by late spring
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