Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle is now ready for its first flight. The company has conducted — and successfully completed — a wet dress rehearsal or a full run-through of the rocket’s launch countdown. As The New York Times reports, Blue Origin had to attempt the countdown several times over a few hours, but the company managed to ignite and fire New Glenn’s seven engines for 24 seconds in the end.
New Glenn’s tanks were filled with fuel and the rocket was fitted with a 45,000-pound payload mass simulator as if it truly was heading to space. Blue Origin says this is the first time it operated the vehicle as an integrated system, with New Glenn SVP Jarrett Jones calling the test’s completion a “monumental milestone.” The Federal Aviation Administration has also granted the company a launch license for New Glenn, which means it’s now truly ready to go.
The company describes New Glenn as a “giant, reusable rocket built for bigger things.” It also said that it was “engineered with the safety and redundancy required to fly humans,” though its inaugural flight will be uncrewed. Its first flight was supposed to take place in October carrying two NASA satellites heading to Mars, but it had to be scrapped because the rocket wasn’t ready by then. New Glenn will now fly for the first time with the company’s Blue Ring Pathfinder, part of its Blue Ring platform that will offer spacecraft services to clients like the Pentagon, instead. While Blue Origin didn’t announce a new launch date for the rocket, it’s expected to be the company’s first flight for 2025 and could take place as early as January 6.