New Glenn | Blue Ring Pathfinder Blue Origin is set to make a second launch attempt of its New Glenn rocket from Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff could occur as early as Tuesday, Jan. 14, within a launch window that opens at 1:00 AM EST (06:00 UTC) and extends to 4:00 AM EST (09:00 UTC). New Glenn will carry the DarkSky-1 Blue Ring Pathfinder, a prototype of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring platform. The Blue Ring platform is designed to refuel satellites, transport them to different orbits, and host payloads. It can also act as a satellite bus or a “space tug” and is launch vehicle agnostic, though New Glenn is expected to fly Blue Ring missions in the future. The 57 m tall booster stage, Glenn Stage 1 (GS1), known as “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,” or GS1-SN001, will attempt to land on Blue Origin’s Landing Platform Vessel 1 (LPV1) named Jacklyn after Jeff Bezos’ mother. The GS1 stage, equipped with seven BE-4 engines using methane and liquid oxygen as propellants, will use all seven engines during launch. During landing, the booster will perform a “one-three-one” burn, beginning with igniting a single engine and then igniting two additional engines. Then, the booster will perform the landing with one engine firing. The booster will also use fins and thrusters to guide its path to Jacklyn, which will be out in the Atlantic off the Florida coast. The 23 m tall Glenn Stage 2 (GS2), equipped with two BE-3U engines using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellants, will send the Blue Ring prototype into a medium-Earth orbit (MEO). GS2 is not reusable, though Blue Origin has worked on a project called “Jarvis” in the past that was a concept to enable full reuse of both stages of the vehicle. This flight was originally scheduled for October 2024 with NASA’s ESCAPADE Mars payload, but New Glenn was not expected to be ready for its maiden flight by October. The ESCAPADE flight has since been moved to a later date, and the results of this flight will determine the cadence Blue Origin achieves with New Glenn in 2025. New Glenn, capable of launching up to 45,000 kg to low-Earth orbit (LEO), has contracts for Kuiper, Telesat, and OneWeb constellation launches and several geostationary communication satellites from various customers. Blue Origin hopes to use New Glenn to launch national security payloads and this flight will serve as a certification flight for this purpose. Blue Origin plans to use New Glenn to launch its Orbital Reef space station and Blue Moon lander while being able to reuse individual GS1 stages up to 25 times, and later, 100 times, to lower launch costs. The company hopes to be competitive with SpaceX in the worldwide launch market while working toward a future where millions of people live and work in space.