The company postponed the inaugural launch of its new main rocket on Monday (13) to deal with an unspecified problem with the vehicle.
The company backed by , which is trying to challenge industry leader , has delayed its liftoff time a few times during a three-hour launch window at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The company did not provide details on when it will attempt to launch the New Glenn rocket again.
“We are suspending today’s launch attempt to address a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “We are reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.”
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A successful mission would finally put the company into an elite circle of U.S. ventures that can send satellites into orbit, as well as put Blue Origin on a path to challenge SpaceX’s dominance.
Bezos says to Bloomberg News on the eve of the attempt — its 61st anniversary — that the space industry has room for “multiple winners.”
“There will be new uses for space that will drive demand for large capacity,” Bezos said.
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“SpaceX will be very successful. They will continue to be very successful. Blue Origin will be successful. And there will be some company that hasn’t been founded yet, that hasn’t even been thought of yet — they will also be successful.”
Bezos formally announced plans for New Glenn in 2016, although the rocket was in development before then, with the goal of launching it before the end of the decade.
However, Blue Origin has faced a sluggish corporate culture and several obstacles and delays – particularly with the development of the vehicle’s main BE-4 engines, built in-house. The engines were completed years behind schedule, but have since successfully powered United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket.
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New Glenn is slated to play a key role in Blue Origin’s larger space ambitions, including launching satellites for commercial customers, NASA and the Department of Defense.
Blue Origin aims to launch six to eight New Glenn flights in 2025, CEO Dave Limp told Bloomberg.
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