Blue Origin has announced a launch date for its powerful New Glenn rocket, set to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday, January 10. The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT).
According to Blue Origin, the first flight of New Glenn will be “flight-1,” or NG-1, and will carry a test version of the company’s “Blue Ring” spacecraft platform. The mission aims to validate the communications capabilities of the Blue Ring platform from orbit to ground, as well as test its in-space telemetry, tracking, and command hardware.
The successful completion of this first flight is expected to pave the way for New Glenn to be certified for launching national security missions for the US government. Generally, new rockets must complete two flights to achieve certification.
Blue Origin’s recovery plan for New Glenn’s first stages involves bringing the boosters down on a ship at sea, similar to SpaceX’s approach with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. A booster landing is expected to occur during the NG-1 mission, if all goes according to plan.
The launch of New Glenn marks an important milestone in Blue Origin’s decade-long development of the rocket, which has a reusable first stage and can deliver up to 50 tons (45 metric tons) of payload to low Earth orbit.
Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/blue-origin-to-launch-its-1st-new-glenn-rocket-on-jan-10