Start the countdown clock: Blue Origin crews hope to launch the first New Glenn two-stage rocket on its maiden mission early Friday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station!
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ private space company is targeting a three-hour launch window that extends from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. Friday. Measuring more than 320 feet high — taller than a football field — the heavy-lift New Glenn will take flight from Launch Complex 36, within easy eyeshot along the beach in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach.
After soaring skyward along a due east trajectory, the white-and-blue rocket’s first-stage booster will target landing aboard Blue Origin’s drone ship Jacklyn — so named for Bezos’ mother — out in the Atlantic Ocean. Blue Origin officials named the booster So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance because “no one has landed a reusable booster on the first try,” CEO Dave Limp said in a September tweet.
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Check back for live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team launch coverage updates on this page, starting about two hours before Friday’s early morning New Glenn launch window opens.
Later Friday morning, look for a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to launch on another Starlink mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows. That launch window extends from 10:27 a.m. to 2:58 p.m.
Blue Origin: ‘Incredible piece of machinery’: Former NASA chief looks forward to Blue Origin New Glenn launch
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For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
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Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Blue Origin launch overnight: What to know before liftoff from the Cape