Blue Origin New Glenn Launch : The orbital rocket’s maiden voyage

Blue origin‘s inaugural New Glenn mission is finally ready for launch, with the (theoretically) reusable rocket set to begin its maiden flight within hours from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Although the launch was postponed by several days due to unfavorable weather, conditions seem favorable to find out what New Glenn can finally do.

The New Glenn is Blue Origin’s first orbital rocket and has been in development for more than a decade. The company’s previous spacecraft, such as the New shepherd have stayed closer to the Kárman Linea boundary about 100 km above Earth, which some have accepted as the beginning of space. In contrast, New Glenn will aim to blast past that barrier and reach a maximum altitude of about 12,000 miles (19,300 kilometers).

As such, New Glenn is significantly larger than New Shepard, over 98 meters high compared to the latter’s 63 feet (19 m).

Credit: Blue Origin

The New Glenn will not carry human passengers on its maiden voyage. Instead, the goal of the New Glenn-1 mission is to see if it can actually reach orbit safely, and to test out technology for Blue Origin’s proposed Blue Ring spacecraft platform. It is also planned to begin the certification process to enable New Glenn to transport military payloads to space. This would allow Blue Origin to enter into military contracts with the US Department of Defense, which would provide some more competition Space.

Of course, Blue Origin also hopes to land New Glenn’s booster intact, with a landing pad currently ready in the Atlantic Ocean.

The mission’s three-hour launch window opens Monday at 1am EST / Sunday at 10pm PST, with the webcast now live. Watch the launch of Blue Origin’s new Glenn on Blue Orgin’s YouTube channel here: