For the first time, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture lifted up an orbital-class New Glenn rocket on its Florida launch pad — with the billionaire boss keeping watch.
“Just incredible to see New Glenn on the pad at LC-36,” Bezos wrote today in an Instagram post that referred to Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. “Big year ahead. Let’s go!”
Blue Origin’s CEO, Dave Limp, agreed that the sight was incredible.
“Its size alone — more than 30 stories high and a 7-meter diameter fairing with 487 cubic meters of capacity — is humbling,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post.
The rocket-raising party marked the climax of New Glenn’s first-ever rollout. “Pending weather, the vehicle will remain on the pad for at least a week for a series of tanking tests, including flowing cryogenic fluids for the first time,” Limp said.
But this pathfinder rocket isn’t destined for liftoff. The coming round of tests will be conducted without New Glenn’s BE-4 rocket engines, which are powered by liquefied natural gas and have been going through tests in Huntsville, Ala., and at Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in Texas. Eventually, the rocket will be rolled off the pad — and then an engine-equipped version, incorporating components from the test vehicle’s first stage, will be prepared for launch.
