Blue Origin launches its Blue Ring pathfinder on the first flight of its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral – Space Flight Now

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Blue Origin launches its Blue Ring pathfinder on the first flight of its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral – Space Flight Now
Frost is seen covering the upper stage of Blue Origin’s fully burned New Glenn rocket as the launch team worked to troubleshoot what was described as a subsystem problem that prevented the launch attempt on January 13, 2025. Blue Origin later stated that the scrub on Monday morning was “due to ice forming in a purge line on an auxiliary engine that powers some of our hydraulic systems.” Image: Blue Origin via live stream

Blue Origin will take another shot at launching its first New Glenn rocket early Thursday morning, weather permitting.

The space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos faced literal and figurative headwinds during its first attempts to launch its 30-plus-story rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The latest launch attempt is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 36 during a three-hour window that opens at 1 am EST (0600 UTC). Spaceflight Now will have live coverage from 90 minutes before launch.



Weather at the pad doesn’t look ideal for a Thursday morning launch, but would improve in a 24-hour backup, according to launch weather officers with the 45th Weather Squadron.

“A developing area of ​​low pressure located across the western Gulf of Mexico will bring rising clouds to Central Florida today and tonight, with upstream observations and model guidance suggesting a higher risk of thick cloud layer concerns compared to yesterday’s forecast for tonight’s launch attempt.” wrote meteorologists.

“This plume of mid-level moisture is expected to be removed from the parent low and thin out Thursday evening as surface high pressure builds southward into Florida, providing improved forecasts for the possibility of backup launches.”

Blue Origin said a problem prevented Monday’s launch was “icing in a purge line on an auxiliary power unit that operates some of (New Glenn’s) hydraulic systems.” Teams worked to resolve this issue during the three-hour window, but were unable to do so in time.

They were further prevented from launching on Tuesday due to bad weather.

One of the goals of the NG-1 mission is to attempt to land the first stage booster, called ‘So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance’, on Blue Origin’s lander, called ‘Jacklyn’, which is located out in the Atlantic Ocean.

Launch weather officers predict a “moderate” risk of landing the booster during both the primary and backup launch windows.

“For booster recovery conditions, seas will build into the 6-7 foot range for the primary window, with similar to slightly lower seas for Friday morning,” meteorologists wrote. “Winds will be acceptable for landing on both primary and backup landing options, although an increase in wind is expected for the backup day.”



In addition to collecting data about the rocket and launch current, Blue Origin will also learn more about its orbital space tug, the Blue Ring. Although it will not host or deploy any satellites on this mission, it will serve to “validate space-to-ground communications capabilities by sending commands, receiving telemetry, receiving stores and computing mission data, and performing radiometric tracking (for navigation) .”

If all goes according to plan, the New Glenn upper stage, known as Glenn Stage 2 (GS2), will fly into a highly elliptical orbit in the medium-Earth orbit region, with an apogee of 19,300 km and a perigee of 2,400 km at an inclination of 30 degrees.