The second flight of Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket won’t happen until at least mid-August, CEO Dave Limp announced Monday in a post on X. That represents a slight delay — Jeff Bezos’ space company had said in March it was targeting “late spring” for the rocket’s second launch.
New Glenn’s first launch took place January 16. While the rocket’s upper stage reached orbit on its first attempt, the booster stage exploded while attempting to land on a drone ship in the ocean.
Blue Origin said in March it discovered “seven corrective actions” as part of the investigation mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration. Limp said Monday the company will once again try to land and recover the booster stage on New Glenn’s second flight. The executive wrote that Blue Origin is targeting a launch date of no earlier than August 15.
Blue Origin first revealed the New Glenn rocket in 2016, and originally wanted it to fly as early as 2021. But the expensive program was plagued by delays. In the meantime, Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX has come to dominate the launch market, and has been developing its own mega-rocket called Starship.
