Blue Origin New Glenn rocket ready for lifting. After some weather-related delays over the weekend, the The space company owned by Jeff Bezos said the $2.5 billion reusable rocket, which has been in development for nearly 13 years, Batas its first launch is no earlier than Monday, January 13. Its three-hour launch window begins at 1AM ET. The webcast will begin one hour before launch, and you can watch New Glenn fly on Blue Origin’s website, X or the company YouTube channel.

The new Glenn’s inaugural mission (NG-1) will serve as the first Space Force national security certification flight, which is required to compete with the likes of SpaceX for Defense Department and national intelligence contracts. The reusable first stage is designed for at least 25 flights. Blue Origin has several New Glenn vehicles in production.

Blue Origin describing New Glenn as “our giant, reusable rocket built for bigger things.” The “giant” bit is fitting: The rocket stands more than 320 ft (98 m) tall. As for its “big stuff,” that includes the metaphorical (like potential missions to Mars) and the literal: It can carry more than 45 metric tons into low Earth orbit (LEO) and 13 into geostationary transfer orbit. (GTO). In comparison, rival SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy can lift nearly 64 metric tons to LEO and nearly 27 to GTO orbit.

On its maiden voyage, New Glenn will carry a prototype of the company’s multipurpose Blue Ring Pathfinder. The craft is designed to transport, refuel and host satellites and other spacecraft and can carry three metric tons of cargo into space. Friday’s launch will test Blue Ring’s core flight/ground systems and operational capabilities.

After New Glenn lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, its reusable first stage will land on a barge, “Jacklyn,” floating several hundred miles away in the Atlantic Ocean. .

New Glenn, named after pioneer astronaut John Glenn, the first countdown dress rehearsal launch is over on December 27. After several countdown tests over several hours, the rocket’s seven BE-4 engines ignited and exploded within 24 seconds (spending 13 seconds at 100 percent thrust), giving and way for a targeted launch on Friday. The first flight of the rocket in the beginning set for Octobercarrying two Mars-bound NASA satellites, but the launch was canceled because it was not ready.