Word broke this afternoon that
the Maiden Flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn has been postponed another day
due to weather. Not the weather here on the Cape but down range where the recovery
ship is positioned to attempt to recover the booster.
Instead of Sunday morning at 1:00 AM EST, the target date is now Monday morning at the same time. There's a three hour launch window, and Blue Origin will provide a webcast at this link starting one hour before liftoff.
Of course that means that recovering the booster is a goal for this mission, so it's not just the first attempt to achieve orbit, it's a test flight of the first prototype of their Blue Ring programmable upper stage, and a test of landing the booster at sea.
"Our objective is to reach orbit," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said this week. "Anything beyond that is a bonus. Landing our booster offshore is ambitious—but we’re going for it. No matter what, we will learn a lot."
As an aside, that's the closest thing to the regular SpaceX line "the only thing guaranteed is excitement" that I've ever heard associated with Blue Origin.
In contrast with SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 rockets tend to finish fueling about
two minutes before liftoff, New Glenn is expected to be completely fueled an
hour before launch. The first fueling operation, the second stage's liquid
hydrogen loading, will begin 4.5 hours before liftoff or 8:30 PM EST.
During a nominal mission the booster stage's seven BE-4 engines—which have previously performed well during two flights of United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket—will burn liquid methane for 3 minutes and 10 seconds. If all goes well with this booster stage after separation from the second stage, it will initiate a 28-second burn to make a controlled reentry into Earth's atmosphere, followed by a landing burn before touching down at 9 minutes and 28 seconds into the flight.
As with many other launch vehicles, the second stage is going to do two burns
in the first hour of the mission. Blue Origin provided this mission
profile, but that's not apparent from this graphic.
Mission Profile for this flight. Image credit: Blue Origin
More in a first mission than even something like Starship's Flight Test 7, it's always possible that something could go wrong with the booster or upper stage in flight, or even both. As CEO Dave Limp outlined, it's an ambitious first flight, and we wish them luck.
Well, we'll see. For their sake I hope it works. Don't have a lot of faith with BO's products so far.
ReplyDeleteLet's just see if they can clear the tower...
ReplyDeleteThis is a question born of ignorance. Why launch and recover in the dark with a test payload that doesn't need to be in a particular orbit?
ReplyDeletePer a different space blog, the FAA gave BO this launch window due to commercial air traffic. So, in the dark for this first orbital test.
ReplyDeletePretty darn exciting now there are two BFR's, life is good! Here's wishing them both all the good fortune in the world and great rewards fir all their hard work and efforts.
ReplyDeleteI believe if they get it right, both rockets that is they will totally change the world in positive ways, hey, nothing like good winners right? Its akin to the big hump, creates positive energy, people feed off that and generates even more. They are competitors but thats a good thing too, and each have their unique to each other methods and processes, like when in all space history has something like this happened, seems so much more positive than the first space race, now its a competition between technological innovation and design, this in turn can only foster more of the same across the spectrum of getting off this ball and finally sustainable human presence in space, its going to change us humans, in particular it is private endeavor not government that is the leadership here, and that is a really great thing. At last. It needed to be this way for so long. Escape velocity here we go.
Absolutely I hope that they succeed!
ReplyDelete"competition between technological innovation and design". Good God Almighty....do NOT let the .gov get involved. They'll kill all of that in one fell swoop.
ReplyDeleteAnd since they're delayed due to technical issues, we'll see how they perform without .gov intervention.... Eventually.
I was trying to be non-political, hard to do, agree with you fully, in so many ways while there are positives. there is that ever existing government need to control, no matter the negative effect, not saying anything knew, just i think there is just something unworkable about government in most if its forms, it is not natural by any means, its time to try the one thing, one form of government, all government everywhere strive to eliminate at all costs, which really tells you something, that is the classic form of government via Anarchy. More and more as i get a tiny but wiser with age, have come to hold in very high regard the ability of people to be able to very well manage their own affairs given time and opportunity. I see every day first hand this, here in rural WV, folks have this undeniable penchant to co-operate and help each other while not meddling in others affairs, it is very real in a myriad if ways, our government is rarely seen beyond caring for roads, and providing bare minimum county Sheriffs, who each make it clear by statung it verbally, you all are goid folks, we know who is who, you must take care of things yourselves, we no linger can take care if the criminals its out of our hands, we know and trust you'all to do what is right, almost word for word I personally was told this on two occasions, along with pretty much all who live close by. And I say that is very true, at least in these here parts if the woods. Its mostly small cattle farms here, usually 50-150 acre size, hard working honest people. Of course you must have that or Anarchy is very hard. But our Colonial ancestors had it in them, till that piece of parchment and the thieves hiding behind it got into things.
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