An artistic illustration of New Glenn preparing for launch in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Blue Origin
Hell has no fury like the richest person in the world despised. Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, announced on Thursday that it is postponing the debut date of New Glenn, its huge, heavy rocket, and blamed the delay on a burning bag at the door of the U.S. Space Force. , the newest military branch.
Blue Origin hoped to launch the vehicle, which is positioned as a reusable competitor to Falcon Heavy and SpaceX Starship (although with much less carrying capacity than the starship), by the end of this year. Now it says that the fourth quarter of 2022 is the new target.
In a statement on Thursday, the company said that “the schedule has been refined to meet the demand of Blue Origin’s commercial customers.”
The statement goes on to explicitly note that this is because Blue Origin lost a major contract with the government.
“This updated inaugural flight target follows the recent decision by the Space Force not to select New Glenn for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL), Phase 2 Launch Services Procurement (LSP).”
Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman were the losers in the four-way race announced last August. SpaceX and United Launch Alliance won two contracts, each worth more than $ 300 million for multiple launches.
Just to be clear, Blue Origin is not excited about the loss, she concludes the statement by pointing out that she has invested a billion dollars in the reconstruction of Launch Complex 36, which is part of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The US Space Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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