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Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has again delayed the debut flight of its New Glenn vehicle, citing a technical issue.
The aerospace company said early Monday that it would stand down from its planned launch of the 322-foot partially reusable rocket in order to troubleshoot a “vehicle subsystem issue.” During a live feed of the launch’s countdown, a company official said mission teams were examining “a few anomalies.”
Blue Origin’s three-hour window began at 1 a.m. ET, according to the company, which plans to launch New Glenn from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It will review opportunities for its next launch attempt.
It was just the latest delay for New Glenn, which has been in the works officially since 2016, although some of its parts were being made as early as 2012. Blue Origin, which received a launch license from regulators on Dec. 27, 2024, had hoped for its maiden voyage to occur last year before running out of time.
The company ended up scheduling a launch for no earlier than Jan. 10 before delaying its plans due to unfavorable conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. Blue Origin will attempt to land New Glenn’s first stage booster on a barge in the ocean 10 minutes after liftoff while its second stage heads into orbit.
In an interview with Reuters earlier this month, Bezos said “the thing we’re most nervous about is the booster landing,” adding that “on a first flight you could have an anomaly at any mission phase, so anything could happen.”
New Glenn will carry the Blue Ring Pathfinder, which will test the technology created for the company’s Blue Ring, a transfer vehicle for delivering satellites to their planned orbits that can carry 3,000 kilograms of payload. The vehicle could become monumental for Blue Origin, which has deals to launch satellites with companies such as Amazon and AST SpaceMobile and plans to launch a space station called Orbital Reef.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX also plans to launch its own megarocket, the 400-foot-tall Starship, later this week after suffering its own delays. It had planned for its seventh test of Starship for last Friday before delaying the launch to no earlier than Wednesday.