Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Monday, January 6th, 2025

Bezos’s Blue Origin poised for first orbital launch next week

Author:    
Source:     Agence France-Presse (France)
Publication Date:     05/01/2025 | 02:37
 Link: Bezos’s Blue Origin poised for first orbital launch next week
Stephan:  

I have been thinking about this report from France for several days. Think about this: Because of the way the Republicans rigged the tax code during the Reagan administration to overwhelmingly favor the rich, we now have two men so wealthy they own and are running their own competitive space programs. Ahh, but you must also remember this. Because of the corruption of the American government, much of what they are doing is being done under government contracts that you and I are paying for. How strange a world that is from the 1960s when NASA ran America’s space program to benefit all Americans, with no reference to profit.

Space: main rockets compared  Credit: Gal Roma, Stéphane Koguc, Emmanuelle Michel / AFP

Named New Glenn, the rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida as soon as Wednesday 1:00 am (0600 GMT), with a backup window on Friday, according to a Federal Aviation Administration advisory.

While Blue Origin has not officially confirmed the launch date, excitement has been building since a successful “hot-fire” test on December 27.

“Next stop launch,” Bezos declared on X, sharing a video of the towering rocket’s engines roaring to life.

The NG-1 mission will carry a prototype of Blue Ring, a Defense Department–funded spacecraft envisioned as a versatile satellite deployment platform, which will remain on board the rocket’s second stage for the duration of the six-hour test flight.

It will mark Blue Origin’s long-awaited entry into the lucrative orbital launch market after years of suborbital flights with its smaller New Shepard rocket, which carries passengers and payloads on brief trips to the edge of space.

“The market is really orbital,” analyst Laura Forczyk, founder of Astralytical, told AFP. “Suborbital can only take you so far […]

Read the Full Article