Blue Origin has postponed the inaugural launch of its New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, originally scheduled for January 13, 2025, due to a technical issue. The launch attempt from Florida’s Space Coast had been in a three-hour window, beginning at 1 a.m. EST, but was ultimately called off around 3:10 a.m. EST.
The company announced via X that it would not proceed with the launch to troubleshoot a subsystem issue, though specifics on the problem were not provided at that time. Later, Blue Origin disclosed that the issue stemmed from “ice forming in a purge line on an auxiliary power unit that powers some of our hydraulic systems.” This led to a revised target launch window for January 14, but the company subsequently shifted this again to January 16.
This latest delay is not the first for the New Glenn rocket, which stands at 320 feet tall and features a reusable first stage. Initial launch plans aimed for a January 10 liftoff were postponed due to rough sea conditions where the rocket’s first stage was to land on a recovery ship named Jacklyn, named after Jeff Bezos’ mother.
With the new launch window extending through January 16, Blue Origin has a limited timeframe to resolve the encountered issues. The test flight, referred to as NG-1, will carry a pathfinder version of Blue Ring, a new spacecraft platform developed by the company.
New Glenn represents Blue Origin’s first attempt at an orbital-class rocket, expanding the company’s capabilities beyond its existing reusable suborbital vehicle, New Shepard, which is used for brief space trips with payloads and passengers.
This setback serves as a reminder of the complexities involved in space missions, a field where precision and safety are paramount. As Blue Origin works on these technical challenges, the aerospace community remains optimistic about the potential advances that New Glenn could bring to commercial space travel.