Investing.com — Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, announced on Monday that it had postponed the first launch of its New Glenn rocket due to last-minute issues with the vehicle. This move is seen as a setback in its efforts to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the satellite sector.
The launch had been scheduled to occur from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1 a.m. ET on Monday. However, the company decided to stand down from the launch attempt in order to troubleshoot a vehicle sub-system issue, which would extend beyond their launch window, according to Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s vice president of in-space systems. The announcement was made during a livestream of the planned take-off.
Cornell also mentioned that Blue Origin was exploring opportunities for the next launch attempt. The rocket, during its Monday mission, was geared up to land a first-stage booster on the ship Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean for future reuse, while the rocket’s second stage would continue into orbit.
The New Glenn was set to carry the company’s Blue Ring spacecraft for its test flight. This spacecraft has the ability to move to multiple orbits and locations, as well as host and deploy payloads. Test flights are often repeated before rockets can be trusted to transport national security payloads.
The launch team is currently working to de-tank and safe the vehicle. Cornell stated on Monday that the next steps would be assessing what other tasks need to be completed during the downtime and this would determine when the next launch opportunity will be.
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