After years of development, Blue Origin’s semi-reusable heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle, New Glenn, was due to launch on its maiden flight on Jan. 13 at 1:00 AM EST (06:00 UTC) after recently completing its seven-engine hotfire and moving to the right due to sea state conditions for recovery.
However, after the vehicle was fully fueled, Blue Origin needed to keep moving the launch time back. The company finally called a scrub less than one hour before the launch window ended at 3:00 AM EST (08:00 UTC). Blue Origin posted on X that they were standing down as they needed to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue which would take them beyond their launch window.
The first New Glenn flight, NG-1, is now scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 16 at 1:00 AM EST (06:00 UTC). The Jan. 13 scrub was caused by ice forming on a purge line attached to an auxiliary power unit that powers some hydraulic systems.
The flight is set to launch a Blue Ring Pathfinder payload to demonstrate the capabilities of the company’s future Blue Ring multi-mission space mobility platform. Blue Origin pushed the launch from Jan. 10 due to rough seas, which would have precluded a booster recovery.