Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launch cancelled at last minute due to ‘anomalies’ on rocket

Credit: Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has called off the launch of its New Glenn rocket from Florida at the last minute after a “few anomalies” were found during mission countdown.

The Amazon founder hoped to close the gap with Elon Musk’s Space X but the rocket suffered unspecified issues causing the launch to be abandoned.

“We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.”

Named New Glenn after legendary astronaut John Glenn, the rocket stands at 320 feet (98 metres) tall, roughly equivalent to a 32-story building, and was scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at around 8.15am.

The mission has been postponed to give the team “more time” to work on a subsystem issue.

“We are standing down today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window,” Ariane Cornell, a Blue Origin executive, said during a livestream.

She added that the launch team would now “detank” the rocket and “assess what other things we might want to get done in our downtime and that is what’s going to guide when the next launch opportunity will be”.

The delay could be at least 24 hours but will likely last longer as the company examines the snag for the high-risk, high-stakes mission.

Speaking before the launch, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said: “The thing we’re most nervous about is the booster landing.

“Clearly on a first flight you could have an anomaly at any mission phase, so anything could happen.”

Mr Bezos, who celebrated his 61st birthday on Sunday, watched events unfold from the nearby launch control room this morning.

The launch had been viewed as a critical test for whether Blue Origin can emerge as a serious competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10.08am EST (3.08pm GMT)

A little more than eight minutes after lift-off, the first stage booster will attempt to land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The seventh flight test of SpaceX’s Starship – its gargantuan new-generation rocket – is set to launch as soon as Jan 15.

Jeff Bezos said he does not think SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will use his close ties with President-elect Donald Trump to undercut his space company Blue Origin, adding he feels “very optimistic” about the incoming administration’s space agenda.

“Elon has been very clear that he’s doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value,” Mr Bezos said on Sunday, adding: “My own opinion is that we should do both – we need to go to the moon and we should go to Mars.”

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09:27 AM GMT

That’s all for today

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09:07 AM GMT

Attention back on SpaceX

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10.08am EST (3.08pm GMT)

A little more than eight minutes after lift-off, the first stage booster will attempt to land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The seventh flight test of SpaceX’s Starship is set to launch as soon as Jan 15.

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08:50 AM GMT

When will the next launch attempt be?

Blue Origin had initially hoped its New Glenn rocket would be launched on Friday, but sea conditions scuppered the attempt.

A second launch window was scheduled for Sunday but this was also called off because of adverse weather conditions.

The sea must be calm to allow for the reusable booster to land on the floating platform.

Today’s attempt appeared to have been closer than the previous two, for the weather conditions were described as “in-bound” during the countdown.

The delay could be at least 24 hours but will likely last longer as the company examines the unspecified technical issue which caused the attempt to be abandoned.

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08:34 AM GMT

Team needs ‘more time’ to solve subsystem issue

The mission has been postponed to give the team “more time” to work on a subsystem issue.

“We are standing down today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window,” Ariane Cornell, a Blue Origin executive, said during a livestream.

She added that the launch team would now “detank” the rocket and “assess what other things we might want to get done in our downtime and that is what’s going to guide when the next launch opportunity will be”.

Lift-off had been set back five times this morning and was nearing the end of the launch window when the team called off the launch.

Speaking before the launch, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said: “The thing we’re most nervous about is the booster landing.

“Clearly on a first flight you could have an anomaly at any mission phase, so anything could happen.”

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08:12 AM GMT

Launch called off

After a series of delays for unspecified issues, Blue Origin has confirmed that the launch will not be happening today.

In a post on X, Blue Origin said: “We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window.

“We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.”

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08:10 AM GMT

Who was John Glenn?

The New Glenn rocket is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth in 1962.

Glenn, who would later serve four terms as a US senator from Ohio, was one of NASA’s original seven Mercury astronauts.

His flight on Friendship 7 on Feb 20, 1962, showed the world that America was a serious contender in the space race with the Soviet Union and made Glenn a hero.

Before becoming an astronaut, Glenn was a distinguished Marine Corps fighter pilot serving in World War II and the Korean War.

In July 1957, while project officer of the F-8U Crusader, he set a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York of 3 hours and 23 minutes. It was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed.

In 1998, Glenn took part in a 9-day mission on the STS-95 Discovery shuttle flight at the age of 77, making him the oldest human to venture into space.

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07:47 AM GMT

‘SpaceX has been the only game in town for years’

The launch is a critical test for whether Blue Origin can emerge as a serious competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX

“SpaceX has for the past several years been pretty much the only game in town, and so having a competitor… this is great,” G. Scott Hubbard, a retired senior NASA official, said.

Blue Origin has already secured a NASA contract to launch two Mars probes aboard New Glenn. The rocket will also support the deployment of Project Kuiper, a satellite internet constellation designed to compete with Starlink.

SpaceX, meanwhile, is planning the next orbital test of Starship – its gargantuan new-generation rocket – this week, upping the high-stakes rivalry.

Whereas Mr Musk has spoken of colonising Mars, Jeff Bezos has envisioned shifting heavy industry off-planet onto floating space platforms in order to preserve Earth, “humanity’s blue origin.”

He founded Blue Origin in 2000 – two years before Mr Musk created SpaceX – but has adopted a more cautious pace, in contrast to his rival’s “fail fast, learn fast” philosophy.

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07:33 AM GMT

What to expect from the landing

Soon after launch, Blue Origin will attempt to land the first-stage booster on a drone ship named Jacklyn, in honour of Jeff Bezos’s mother, stationed about 620 miles (1,000 km) downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.

Though SpaceX has long made such landings a near-routine spectacle, this will be Blue Origin’s first shot at a touchdown on the high seas.

It took SpaceX six years to perfect the manoeuvre shown in the footage below with Falcon 9 after its debut launch in 2010.

“Landing a rocket like this, the way they’re doing it, is definitely not simple,” said Elliott Bryner, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. “The level of technology required to do this is unbelievable.”

Yet achieving reusability is crucial to reducing costs and broadening access to space, added George Nield, president of Commercial Space Technologies.

SpaceX

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07:27 AM GMT

A ‘Swiss Army knife’ rocket

Its versatility means New Glenn could become the “Swiss Army knife” of rockets, capable of deploying a diverse array of payloads to both low and higher orbits.

These are set to include commercial and military satellites – as well as Project Kuiper, Jeff Bezos’s planned space internet constellation, to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.

New Glenn also has the potential to carry crewed spacecraft, notes George Nield, president of Commercial Space Technologies. “One other potential use is for commercial space stations,” he said.

With the International Space Station slated for decommissioning in 2030, the race is on to develop replacements. Blue Origin is amongst the contenders vying to build the first privately run platform.

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07:18 AM GMT

Bezos sees no threat from Musk’s Trump ties

Jeff Bezos said he does not think SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will use his close ties with President-elect Donald Trump to undercut his space company Blue Origin, adding he feels “very optimistic” about the incoming administration’s space agenda.

“Elon has been very clear that he’s doing this for the public interest and not for his personal gain. And I take him at face value,” Mr Bezos said on Sunday, adding: “My own opinion is that we should do both – we need to go to the moon and we should go to Mars.”

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07:18 AM GMT

Pictured: New Glenn on the launchpad

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07:11 AM GMT

The space race heats up

The development of New Glenn has spanned three Blue Origin CEOs and faced numerous delays as Elon Musk’s SpaceX grew into an industry juggernaut with its reusable Falcon 9, the world’s most active rocket.

In late 2023, Bezos moved to speed things up at Blue Origin, prioritising the development of New Glenn and its BE-4 engines. He named Dave Limp, an Amazon veteran, as CEO, who employees say introduced a sense of urgency to compete with SpaceX.

New Glenn is more than twice as powerful as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and has dozens of customer launch contracts collectively worth billions of dollars lined up.

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07:10 AM GMT

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