New Glenn explodes
blue origin
Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket successfully launched and reached orbit, but engineers were unable to land the first stage rocket booster safely on Earth as expected. Still, the company’s first orbital launch is a sign that Jeff Bezos’ space company could challenge the current dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the private space launch business.
“We are very proud that New Glenn has entered orbit on its first attempt,” said Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin. From the statement.
The New Glenn, about the height of a 30-story building, exploded at the Cape Canaveral Space Force base in Florida around 2 a.m. local time (7 a.m. GMT). The rocket has suffered numerous delays and setbacks, with previous launches being halted due to unwanted ice forming on some rocket engine pipes.
About 13 minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage reached orbit. This has been Blue Origin’s goal since the company was founded more than 20 years ago. It carried a test payload called Blue Ring Pathfinder, a collection of communications devices, power systems and flight computers.
Another goal of the mission was to land the rocket booster on a floating landing platform in the Atlantic Ocean so that it could be reused for future missions, lowering overall costs. But engineers stopped receiving data from the booster shortly after liftoff. “We knew that landing the booster on the first attempt was an ambitious goal. We will learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring,” said Limp.
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