Bezos’ space company cancels debut launch of new rocket in final minutes of countdown

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Blue origin will try again to launch its massive new rocket as early as Thursday after canceling its debut launch due to ice build-up in critical plumbing.

320 feet (98 meters) New Glenn rocket was supposed to blast off before dawn Monday with a prototype satellite. But ice formed in a purge line to a unit that powers some of the rocket’s hydraulic systems and launch controllers ran out of time to clear it, according to the company.

Founded by Amazon’s Jeff BezosBlue Origin further delayed the launch because of Tuesday’s poor weather forecast for Cape Canaveral and a moonshot planned for Wednesday by SpaceX. The test flight had already been delayed by rough seas that posed a risk to Blue Origin’s plan to land the first-stage booster on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

New Glenn is named after the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn. It’s five times taller than Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, which takes paying customers to the edge of space from Texas.

Bezos started the company 25 years ago. He participated in Monday’s countdown from Mission Control, located at the rocket factory just outside the gates of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

No matter what happens, Bezos said over the weekend, “We’re going to pick ourselves up and keep going.”

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