CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket will be back on Launch Pad 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early Thursday.
After a scrub of the maiden launch on Monday, and a brief plan to try again Tuesday, Blue Origin issued a statement late Monday saying they are moving the next attempt to Thursday, Jan. 16, with a three-hour launch window opening at 1 a.m. ET.
Blue Origin scrubbed Monday's launch so its team could go over a “vehicle subsystem issue,” which was later stated to be "ice forming in a purge line on an auxiliary power unit that powers some of our hydraulic systems," the Washington state-based company said.
The three-hour launch window for the NG-1 mission opened at 1 a.m. ET, but there were numerous pushbacks until Blue Origin announced on X that it was going to scrub the first launch of the New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn in honor of being the first American to orbit Earth.
This is not the first time the company tried to launch the rocket.
Trying to launch
The first Blue Origin New Glenn launch was originally set to take off on Friday, Jan. 10, but it was pushed back.
Officials initially rescheduled the launch for Jan. 12, but cited concerns about sea conditions out in the Atlantic Ocean, where the rocket's booster was set to land.
New Glenn Launch Update: Sea state conditions are still unfavorable for booster landing. We're shifting our NG-1 launch date by one day to no earlier than January 13. Our three-hour window remains the same, opening Monday at 1 a.m. EST (0600 UTC).
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 11, 2025
The company announced a new launch date for Monday, Jan. 13, but it was not meant to be.
The launch is 10 years in the making as the rocket was developed and the historic pad was modernized. Like SpaceX, the rocket’s first stage is reusable.
Right now, it is designed for a minimum of 25 flights.
