Blue Origin Cancels New Glenn Launch Due to Weather and Technical Issues

Staff Reporter | PNN

Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, on Sunday afternoon canceled the planned second launch of the New Glenn mega-rocket. The company cited weather uncertainty, minor technical issues on the launch platform, and the unexpected presence of at least one cruise ship in the launch path as reasons.

Blue Origin plans to attempt the second mission on Wednesday, November 12. Due to the federal government shutdown, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had announced some space launch restrictions last week. Blue Origin said it is coordinating with the FAA to ensure a successful second attempt. The launch window is scheduled from 2:50 PM to 4:17 PM Eastern Time.

The mission is highly important for Blue Origin. The company is still working to demonstrate full rocket reusability. The first New Glenn launch in January successfully reached orbit, but the booster exploded before landing on the drone ship. Blue Origin hopes that in this second mission, the booster will land successfully for the first time.

This will also be the first commercial mission for New Glenn, carrying NASA’s Escaped spacecraft destined for a Mars mission and a technology demonstration instrument for Viasat, part of another NASA project. Successful reuse of the rocket will help Blue Origin compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX by proving cost-effective and safe payload delivery.

The second launch, originally planned for earlier in the year, has been postponed multiple times due to weather and technical issues. On Sunday, the launch window opened at 2:45 PM at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with a roughly 90-minute window. Minutes before the launch, a cruise ship entered the flight path, and despite efforts to clear it, Blue Origin ultimately canceled the attempt due to weather uncertainty.