"Try again in the spring" Jeff Bezos' new rocket fails to land
Among other things, the flight was intended to test the communication capabilities of "Blue Ring" by engineers on Earth.
Image: dpa
The "New Glenn" rocket is around 100 meters high. It is named after John Glenn, the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth.
Image: dpa
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000.
Image: dpa
Among other things, the flight was intended to test the communication capabilities of "Blue Ring" by engineers on Earth.
Image: dpa
The "New Glenn" rocket is around 100 meters high. It is named after John Glenn, the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth.
Image: dpa
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000.
Image: dpa
Billionaire against billionaire: Elon Musk's company SpaceX has been conquering space for some time, now Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin wants to follow suit - and is testing a new, powerful rocket for the first time.
16.01.2025, 08:54
16.01.2025, 10:49
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Jeff Bezos' space company has tested its new, powerful rocket.
- During the test flight, the carrier rocket was to land on a ship in the Atlantic.
- "This is our first flight and we have prepared thoroughly for it," Blue Origin announced shortly before the launch on Platform X.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin has tested its new, powerful rocket "New Glenn" for the first time. The approximately 100-metre-high rocket, named after US astronaut John Glenn (1921-2016), lifted off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida, as live footage from the company showed.
However, the first test flight did not end as hoped. Although the rocket reached Earth orbit as planned, it failed to land on a platform in the Atlantic.
"We'll try the landing again in the spring," wrote Blue Origin Managing Director Dave Limp on Platform X.
The "New Glenn" heavy-lift rocket is a two-stage rocket. These stages are mounted on top of each other and are ignited one after the other. According to the plan, the first, i.e. lower stage of "New Glenn" should be able to land upright and be reused at some point after its deployment.
This intended landing of the part, also known as the booster, on a platform in the Atlantic did not happen during the test on Thursday night (local time). "We lost the booster during the descent," announced billionaire Jeff Bezos' space company. Landing on the very first test flight was a "very ambitious goal", CEO Limp was quoted as saying.
Reaching orbit as the most important goal
Before the launch, Blue Origin announced on Platform X: "This is our first flight and we have prepared thoroughly for it." No amount of ground tests or mission simulations could replace a flight with this rocket. The most important goal of the test launch is to reach orbit safely. "Anything beyond that is the icing on the cake."
The test flight had previously been postponed several times due to unfavorable conditions and a technical problem.
Testing communication
On board the two-stage heavy-lift rocket was a prototype of the "Blue Ring" spacecraft, which will later be used to launch satellites into space. Among other things, the flight was intended to test the communication capabilities of "Blue Ring" by engineers on Earth.
According to Blue Origin, it has been working for more than a decade on the development of the partially reusable rocket, which can transport around 45 tons of material into low Earth orbit. Astronauts are also to use it to complete missions in the future.
According to the company, the first stage of "New Glenn" is designed for at least 25 flights. This will lead to significantly less waste and costs. SpaceX also relies on reusable rocket parts. In other rockets, such as the European Ariane 6 launcher, the engines simply fall into the sea.
Competition for SpaceX
In the future, Blue Origin wants to compete with SpaceX, which currently dominates commercial space travel. The space company owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk has been flying for the US space agency NASA and other clients for years, particularly with its Falcon Heavy rocket. The Falcon Heavy can transport around 64 tons of material.
SpaceX is also currently developing the largest rocket system ever built in the history of space travel, the "Starship". Its seventh test flight could start later this week. Blue Origin has so far mainly offered short space trips for space tourists with the "New Shepard" rocket. Bezos himself was also on board for its first flight in 2021.
