New Glenn’s integrated vehicle hotfire on Dec. 27, 2024. Photo: Blue Origin

Update: Blue Origin is now targeting no earlier than Jan. 12 for the first launch of New Glenn due to high seas in the Atlantic, where it hopes to land the first stage booster. A three-hour window opens on Sunday at 1 a.m. EST. The company pushed the target date on Thursday. 

Blue Origin is nearing the debut launch of its New Glenn rocket and is now targeting a Jan. 10 launch. On Jan. 6, Blue Origin announced it is targeting no earlier than Friday, Jan. 10 for the launch. The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. EST.

The first launch will take place from Launch Complex 36 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will carry the Blue Origin-built space logistics vehicle Blue Ring and serve as the first National Security Space Launch certification flight for U.S. national security missions. It was previously planned to launch NASA’s ESCAPADE spacecraft, but NASA pulled it from the manifest. 

New Glenn is Blue Origin’s heavy-lift rocket with a seven meter payload fairing – large enough to hold three school buses.

The company said the key objective for the mission is to reach orbit safely. The rocket has a reusable first stage and Blue Origin will attempt landing the booster on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean in this first mission.

“This is our first flight and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. “But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations are a replacement for flying this rocket. It’s time to fly. No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch.” 

This comes after New Glenn completed an integrated hotfire test and receiving its launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Dec. 27. Blue Origin completed the hotfire test on Dec. 27, firing seven engines for 24 seconds. The company said this was the first time it operated the entire flight vehicle as an integrated system. Blue Origin performed a formal wet dress rehearsal, going through the final launch procedures before the hot fire.

Blue Origin reported the campaign met all objectives, and reported the seven engines performed nominally for the 24 second testing, including operating at 100% thrust for 13 seconds. 

Also on December 27, the FAA issued a commercial space launch license for the first New Glenn launch, confirming Blue Origin met the agency’s safety, environmental, and other licensing requirements. 

Blue Origin is now licensed for five years to conduct orbital missions from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with the reusable New Glenn first stage landing on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. 

The rocket has been a long time in the making and will make its debut after years of delays. It was announced in 2016, and previously set to debut with a Eutelsat mission in 2020. New Glenn’s customers include NASA, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation, AST SpaceMobile, Eutelsat, and others. 

Blue Origin expects New Glenn to alleviate some of the scarcity in the launch market, Jones said in September at World Space Business Week. 

“New Glenn will minimize the scarcity of launch providers,” Jones said. “We want to open up space for everyone. As new launchers come on, they will provide service to meet this demand. You will get even more demand when the price comes down for launch.”

“We want to be the player in the market, that the market wants. New Glenn is designed to launch 25 times. We have talked about 12 launches in 2025, and then we are looking to double it,” he added.

This story was published on Dec. 31, republished on Jan. 4, and updated on Jan. 7 with the latest information.