back to article Blue Origin gives up on New Glenn lift-off, 2 hours into launch window

Blue Origin has given up on today's lift-off attempt for its New Glenn rocket, confirming that it was standing down a little more than two hours into the vehicle's launch window. Rocket fanciers who were up at 0600 UTC for the opening of the launch window saw repeated resets of the countdown clock before Jeff Besoz's company …

  1. Oneman2Many Bronze badge

    NSF stream mentioned reports of a stuck valve. Might to on 2nd stage which is hydrogen fuel but no further details.

  2. Jon 37 Silver badge

    This sort of thing happens. That's why we test. And this is a test launch.

    1. Paul Herber Silver badge

      But I expect Leon is rubbing his hands with glee!

      1. Spazturtle Silver badge

        I doubt it, SpaceX need New Glenn to work. Starship is a long way off being man rated due to not having any method of launch abort. With SLS likely getting canceled that leaves New Glenn as the only suitable replacement. So if BO can't get New Glenn working then that also throws a spanner in SpaceX's plans.

        1. MajDom

          Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think New Glenn is competition for Falcon Heavy, not Starship.

          1. John Robson Silver badge

            In the current configuration it can lift about the same to LEO, but due to the higher performing upper stage it can do better to GTO or interplanetary.

            The payload volume is also colossal compared with FH, and probably could be enlarged on special request. Starship certainly has higher LEO capability on the cards, and on orbit refuelling is considered a necessity for serious progress beyond that. Of course it also has a very different payload configuration... at the moment we've only seen the pez dispenser, and some boiler plates for HLS access - both nothing about how they'll deploy a large payload (which could of course contain it's own kick stage.

            1. Anonymous Coward Silver badge
              Boffin

              In the current configuration, based on evidence so far, it can't lift diddly squat.

              Sure, we hope that it can do the things they claim, but so far nothing has been proven.

              Starship however has demonstrated ability to haul a single banana to space.

              1. John Robson Silver badge

                Meh - I have confidence in maths and science that you clearly don't.

                Whilst they haven't launched, the capability is pretty easily calculated, there might be some engineering needed between now and that capability being availble.

                1. Anonymous Coward Silver badge
                  Facepalm

                  On the contrary. I agree that they will get to a point where they can do what's claimed. It's just not shown to be there yet.

                  Note the difference between "In the current configuration" and "there might be some engineering needed between now and that capability being availble"

                  Currently it hasn't even proven that it can get itself off the launch pad. Yes, we all suspect that it can do that with ample margin, but it's not proven.

        2. John Robson Silver badge

          Not sure why New Glenn is what you'd consider necessary for manned work... Dragon and the F9 are already very capable, and I imagine it would be less work to man rate the FH than NG at this point if you really wanted some extra dV.

          Of course you can also launch SS, and then do a dragon rendevous in LEO. Ship up 7 people at a time...

          1. Spazturtle Silver badge

            Dragon won't be able to survive re-entry from the moon, at the moment Orion is the only capsule suitable for a moon mission.

            Orion fits on New Glenn, it doesn't fit on Falcon 9 or Heavy.

            1. John Robson Silver badge

              Dragon was originally designed for lunar return, though the heatshield has almost certainly been downrated since then.

              You could of course come back to LEO and then return - might need a little bit of extra fuel, and probably a different SS from the current HLS variant.

              Orion doesn't have to be the only game in town. I'm sure a SS designed as a lunar relay vehicle could do an awful lot of that work.

          2. Oneman2Many Bronze badge

            You don't want all your eggs in one basket, you can't have Dragon as the only human rated system and FH is too close to F9 to be considered for diverse launch systems.

            Who knows what is happening with Starliner and Dreamchaser and which launcher they will be certified with. BTW, a couple of future LEO space station designs have NG being the human taxi but don't know what capsule.

            1. John Robson Silver badge

              True, but at the moment that's what we have.

              I was looking at it from a capability point of view, rather than a diverse supply point of view - at which case does SS/SH even count anyway?

              Dreamchaser looks much more like the shuttle should have looked from the start...

        3. Oneman2Many Bronze badge

          Shuttle didn't have launch abort and Starship won't have for HLS taking off from the moon. I am guessing they are hoping that having proven reliability record will be enough for human rating along with enough redundant systems, etc

          However don't know how long that will take. Until then they have Crew Dragon.

          1. Essuu

            Launch Abort Mandatory

            The Shuttle didn't have a launch abort, which meant the seven astronauts on Challenger had absolutely no chance - there's no way that Starship gets a NASA human rating without a launch abort system. Most likely they'll have to use Crew Dragon to ferry astronauts to orbit to join a Starship before journeying on to the Moon or Mars. Which would be workable as it would mean they could fly more fuel on the first Starship launch, and then only add passengers once it has gone through refuelling as many times as it needs to for its mission. Crew Dragon can be configured to hold seven astronauts, which is fine going up, even if NASA won't support the same number coming down.

            1. John Robson Silver badge

              Re: Launch Abort Mandatory

              The shuttle did have launch abort options - it had ejection seats on two vehicles...

              There was a period in operational flights when there were no launch abort options available (from SRB light to burnout).

              A capsule ejection system might have helped in the challenger incident, but it's not entirely clear - and it would have required extensive redesign to make it work.

              1. imanidiot Silver badge

                Re: Launch Abort Mandatory

                Especially with crew on the lower deck, a capsule ejection system just wasn't feasible on STS, it would have involved basically ejecting the entire pressurized cockpit/nose section. Structurally and weight wise that was never going to happen. The ejection seats were only for the 2 crew in the pilot seats, and were only "hot" on STS-1 through 4. They were disabled by STS-5 and eventually removed. The seats only worked up to 80k feet after which the SRB plumes expanded to a size that the ejecting pilots would pass straight through the SRB exhaust. At nearly the same time dynamic pressure would also exceed face-plate limits, meaning they'd be screwed either way. There was a radio call "negative seats" to indicate this point. On return, the seats were only useable below a certain speed (iirc somewhere around mach 2.5) meaning that on re-entry the seats were also not useable for the majority of the ride until way down in the atmosphere (well beyond the point an out of control shuttle would break up).

                1. John Robson Silver badge

                  Re: Launch Abort Mandatory

                  Absolutely - but to suggest that there were no abort options is just plain wrong.

                  There were times with no abort options... There have never, as far as I am aware, been any abort options during a reentry...

                  1. Oneman2Many Bronze badge

                    Re: Launch Abort Mandatory

                    Also don't think any craft has had a re-entry abort capacity. There was a thing with the shuttle that the astronauts would take shelter on ISS or wait on the shuttle until a rescue shuttle could be sent up. Never mind there was really any way of doing shuttle to shuttle transfers.

                    The options for shuttle was rather limited. Columbia was built with ejector seats but I am guessing it wasn't feasible as the remaining orbiter didn't have them. On the launchpad they had zipline baskets which are still in use for Crew Dragon. After the Challenger disaster they added a bailout capability where they had a different suit and could exit from the hatch and parachute down though most comments said it would never work.

                    The main issue where the boosters, until the burnt out you couldn't eject them and without ejecting them there was no chance of doing an alternate site landing, Can't remember the flight number but after an engine failure they where within a whisker of an abort to orbit which would have meant a once around and land back at Vandenburg or alternate site.

                    For Apollo, Crew Dragon, Starliner and I think Soyuz there is a abort system which ejects the capsule from launcher. This works on the launch pad as well.

                    Starship doesn't appear to have any options for any stage of the flight. This may change in the future, I don't know.

                    1. John Robson Silver badge

                      Re: Launch Abort Mandatory

                      The closest SS could have is a ship from booster, but it's still screwed without anywhere to land (and probably screwed even then because that booster would be going like a scalded cat if the ship detached).

                      The lack of ability to land has to be a major gotcha for a SS abort option... let's get the thing to orbit first maybe. Once we have a reliable and reusable system we can look at crew after that.

                      It's not as if the Apollo landers had much in the way of redundancy or abort options either - we can, and should, do better than that of course.

            2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

              Re: Launch Abort Mandatory

              "Crew Dragon can be configured to hold seven astronauts, which is fine going up, even if NASA won't support the same number coming down."

              And, assuming they are coming back, enough Dragon capsule launches to bring them back down at whatever capacity NASA agree to. :-)

  3. ChodeMonkey Bronze badge

    Alexa,

    scrub launch.

    1. Lon24

      Re: Alexa,

      Done. And the cutlery?

    2. munnoch Silver badge

      Re: Alexa,

      "I've found the following lunch options for you..."

  4. TheMaskedMan Silver badge

    "Rocket fanciers who were up at 0600 UTC for the opening of the launch window saw repeated resets of the countdown clock"

    That would be me. Disappointing, but not unexpected with a maiden flight. No doubt they'll get there in the fullness of time.

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      When the countdown clock was removed from the feed them second time towards the end of the launch window I gave up watching. Those poor hosts trying to waffle their way through all the extra unplanned airtime isn’t breakfast viewing.

      1. Oneman2Many Bronze badge

        Was amusing the host keep saying they will be launching today even after the second clock reset.

        Impressed they managed to get through 3 hour broadcast without saying SpaceX, Falcon or Starship even once.

    2. John Robson Silver badge

      I elected not to set an alarm, and wasn't all that surprised when I woke up to the streams being retitled "scrubbed".

      If it had been at a less unsociable hour I might have made the effort - but I can watch the stream later...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm shocked!

    Shocked to find that Bezos Overcompensation hasn't taken to the skies yet. Maybe it just needs more money?

    1. John Robson Silver badge

      Re: I'm shocked!

      Rocket engineering is hard...

      The frankly absurd cadence of F9 launches, and impressive testing pace of SS/SH, make it easy to forget just how hard.

  6. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
    Happy

    In a post on X, Blue Origin said:

    I bet that always rankles :-)

  7. Oneman2Many Bronze badge

    From twitter,

    New Glenn Launch Update: Our next launch attempt is no earlier than Tuesday, January 14. Our three-hour launch window remains the same, opening at 1 a.m. EST (0600 UTC). Tonight’s poor weather forecast at LC-36 could result in missing this window. This morning’s scrub was due to ice forming in a purge line on an auxiliary power unit that powers some of our hydraulic systems.

    Followed by,

    We’re moving our NG-1 launch to no earlier than Thursday, January 16. The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. EST (0600 UTC).

    Teething problems, hopefully nothing serious. I can remember how many scrubs electron, falcon, sls, vulcan and starship had.

    IFT+7 still on for Wednesday.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    UTC

    Can I just thank everyone involved for giving times in UTC. I find it strange that so much space related news only gives local times.

  9. Oneman2Many Bronze badge

    Congratulations to BO. A few holds on countdown this morning but almost perfect flight. Good take off, separation, reached orbit, first stage retro burn and BO reporting they were very close but couldn't stick the landing. Only downside is that we have been rather spoilt by SpaceX of live views of the mission, hopefully there should be more footage coming out and I believe NASA had one of their Canberra based WB-57 in the landing area with infra-red cameras so might get some footage from them.

    Just waiting for BO haters to turn up now.

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