Billionaire against billionaire: Elon Musk’s company SpaceX has been celebrating success in conquering space for a long time, and now Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is following suit.
Private space company Blue Origin announced the first launch of its new powerful rocket on Friday. The three-hour launch window for “New Glenn” from the US spaceport Cape Canaveral begins at 7 a.m. German time, the company announced, while at the same time trying to dampen expectations.
The company founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said the company, founded by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, said it was primarily about reaching orbit safely. Similar to billionaire Elon Musk’s competitor SpaceX, Blue Origin will also attempt to soft-land an ignition stage after launch. For other rockets, including the European Ariane 6 launch vehicle, these engines simply fall into the sea.
Over ten years of work on rocket
“We know that it is ambitious to land the ignition stage back in the Atlantic on the first attempt, but we are trying,” Blue Origin says on its website. If these parts of the rocket can be reused, the cost of rocket launches can be reduced.
According to its own information, the company has been working on the development of the approximately 100 meter high rocket for more than a decade. It can now transport around 45 tons of material into low Earth orbit. SpaceX’s “Falcon Heavy” can transport around 64 tons.
“We will learn”
The rocket, named after US astronaut John Glenn, is said to be loaded with a spacecraft structure called the “Blue Ring” when it launches. Among other things, the flight is intended to test the ability of “Blue Ring” to communicate with the engineers on Earth.
“It’s now time to fly,” said mission officer Jarrett Jones. “No matter what happens, we will learn, rework and apply our knowledge the next time we start.”
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Image source:
- BlueOrigin_NewShepard_LaunchPadCheck: Blue Origin
Source: www.digitalfernsehen.de
