Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is on the verge of launching its eagerly awaited New Glenn rocket early Sunday morning, January 12, 2025, making its first effort to reach orbit after more than a decade in development.
Scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1 a.m. ET, the test flight marks a milestone for the company as it battles for supremacy against industry leader SpaceX.
New Glenn Launch Update: We're shifting our NG-1 launch date to no earlier than January 12 due to a high sea state in the Atlantic where we hope to land our booster. Our three-hour window remains the same, opening Sunday at 1 a.m. EST (0600 UTC).
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 9, 2025
New Glenn stands 320 feet tall, designed to deliver heavy payloads into orbit. The rocket has roughly twice the power and payload capacity of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
🚀 Launch Alert | We’re targeting New Glenn’s first launch no earlier than January 10 from LC-36. Read more: https://t.co/sqiw0t6qhp pic.twitter.com/B9ex8heWSc
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 7, 2025
If the mission is successful, this launch could open the door for Blue Origin to start launching satellites into orbit for Amazon’s Kuiper broadband internet constellation.
This would compete directly with SpaceX’s Starlink network, which currently leads in the commercial satellite internet market.
Key Details of the Launch
The New Glenn rocket is scheduled to launch on its maiden orbital test flight Sunday, January 14, at 1 a.m. ET launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
On this first mission, New Glenn will carry the company’s first Blue Ring satellite, a spacecraft designed for satellite servicing and national security missions.
New Glenn’s first booster is reusable, designed to land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean during what will be a critical recovery test. This is the culmination of years of development for the company, as Blue Origin tries to establish itself in the commercial space market.
A Decade in the Making
Blue Origin has suffered significant delays in the development of New Glenn since its unveiling in 2016. Technical issues and competing internal projects, like a NASA contract for a lunar lander, slowed it down.
The company accelerated under new CEO Dave Limp, appointed by Bezos in late 2023 to prioritize the completion of the rocket.
“We have never had the whole company so focused on this one objective before,” said a Blue Origin employee.
Direct Competition with SpaceX
Blue Origin is entering a very competitive market led by SpaceX, which launched 134 times in 2024-that’s more launches than all of the rest of the world combined.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets are proven workhorses, and next-generation Starship rocket is under development with better payload capacity.
New Glenn has a payload bay that is twice as large as Falcon 9’s, meaning it can carry larger batches of satellites. It is not as powerful as Starship, though, which is also designed to be fully reusable.
Blue Origin’s reusable first stage will attempt to land on a drone ship during the test flight, following in the footsteps of SpaceX’s pioneering reusability program.
Blue Origin acknowledges the challenge, stating, “No one has landed a reusable booster on the first try. Yet we’re going for it.”
“This is our first flight, and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” said Jarrett Jones, a senior vice president at Blue Origin. “No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”
The launch also comes as Amazon prepares to deploy its Kuiper internet satellite network, with New Glenn expected to play a major role in building the constellation.
ALSO READ: Elon Musk’s Grok AI Now Available As Standalone App: Rival To ChaGPT, Google Gemini?
