Bezos’ Blue Origin delays launch of New Glenn space rocket [VIDEO]

Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will have to wait a little longer to launch his Blue Origin New Glenn space rocket after the lift-off was cancelled on Monday.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket marks a new phase in competition in the commercial space market, posing a challenge to Elon Musk’s dominance in the space race.

Standing down

The company did not immediately share the exact problems that engineers were seeking to fix.

“We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window. We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.”

Early on Monday, Bezos’ Blue Origin was preparing for the maiden launch of its New Glenn rocket from Florida, in the United States.

BREAKING: Blue Origin has called off its New Glenn rocket launch.

Professor of Astrophysics @SineadOS1 discusses the significance of this delay.https://t.co/nqK8rUHFJ5

Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/WdjqbFYTmI

— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 13, 2025

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Countdown

However, the countdown was delayed to investigate unspecified last-minute issues, as the company readied the rocket for its debut mission into Earth orbit, aiming to enter the competitive satellite launch market.

The New Glenn rocket sat on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, fuelled with methane and liquid oxygen propellants.

Lift-off was initially scheduled for 1am ET (0600 GMT), but as the countdown proceeded, Blue Origin repeatedly pushed back the launch time, getting closer to the end of the designated launch window at 4am.

Named New Glenn after legendary astronaut John Glenn, it stands 320 feet (98 meters) tall, roughly equivalent to a 32-story building.

Bezos vs Musk

The culmination of a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar development journey, the flight, whenever it takes off, will include an attempt to land New Glenn’s first stage booster on a sea-fairing barge in the Atlantic Ocean 10 minutes after lift-off, while the rocket’s second stage continues toward orbit.

With the mission, dubbed NG-1, Bezos is taking aim at Musk, whose company SpaceX dominates the orbital launch market through its prolific Falcon 9 rockets, vital for the commercial sector, the Pentagon and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

“SpaceX has for the past several years been pretty much the only game in town, and so having a competitor… this is great,” G. Scott Hubbard, a retired senior NASA official, told AFP.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is planning the next orbital test of Starship — its gargantuan new-generation rocket — this week, upping the high-stakes rivalry.

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