Rough seas caused Blue Origin to hold off a planned early Friday launch attempt with is debut of New Glenn now targeting early Sunday instead. SpaceX, though, still has plans to launch later Friday morning.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 of the company’s Starlink satellites is targeting liftoff at 11:21 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 during a window that runs through 2:15 p.m. and a backup window on Saturday that begins at 10 a.m.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts better than a 95% chance for good launch conditions Friday, which falls to 80% if delayed until Saturday, and low chances of poor weather in the booster recovery area.
The first-stage booster is making a record 25th flight attempt. The fleet-leading booster first flew June 3, 2021 on the CRS-22 cargo Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station. It notably flew both the Crew-3 and Crew-4 human spaceflight missions to the ISS as well.
It’s aiming for a recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed downrange in the Atlantic.
It would be the fourth launch from the Space Coast in 2025, all from SpaceX, following a year the company flew 88 of the 93 total launches from either Canaveral or neighboring Kennedy Space Center.
But it would be the fifth mission overall for Elon Musk’s company, which flew its first California rocket late Thursday on the NROL-153 mission for the National Reconnaissance Organization from Vandenberg Space Force Base. SpaceX also is planning its first Starship and Super Heavy suborbital test flight of the year as soon as Monday from its Texas launch site in Boca Chica.
The next Space Coast launch, though, could fall to Blue Origin’s New Glenn on the NG-1 mission, which is now targeting launch early Sunday from Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36 during a launch window that runs from 1-4 a.m.
Blue Origin pushes 1st New Glenn rocket launch attempt to early Sunday
Similar to the Falcon 9, Blue Origin has designed New Glenn for reusability and will attempt a recovery landing on its own ship, Jacklyn, also stationed downrange in the Atlantic.
“Just need the sea to settle down a bit,” said Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp on X. “Some context on our 1/12 target launch date — our objective is to reach orbit. 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.”
SLD 45 had forecast medium to high chances of poor recovery weather for where Jacklyn, which is named after Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ mother, was stationed much farther from the coast than where SpaceX’s recovery ships generally go.
The 320-foot-tall New Glenn is powered by seven of the company’s BE-4 engines, producing 3.9 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, compared to the 1.7 million pounds of thrust from the 230-foot-tall Falcon 9.
So New Glenn boosters will travel farther out over the Atlantic before their recovery run back to Earth with previous Blue Origin statements saying they will aim for a landing 620 miles downrange.
Falcon 9 booster recovery locations can vary, but typically happen about 400 miles from the coast.
Blue Origin just like SpaceX plans to use cargo facilities at Port Canaveral to offload the boosters once they return from landing. Blue Origin brought in its own crane to offload the taller New Glenn boosters.
The boosters are designed for 25 flights. SpaceX had originally designed Falcon 9 boosters for 10 flights, but have since increased that number.
In 2024, the company stated it was working on qualifying them for up to 40 flights. Several have already passed 20 flights.