Jeff Bezos Vs Elon Musk: Blue Origin Looks To Fly New Glenn For First Time On Same Day As Starship's 7th Test Flight

Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin said on Monday that it is looking to launch its New Glenn rocket for the first time to orbit no earlier than Jan. 10, Friday.

What Happened: The rocket is slated to launch from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. EST.

The key objective for the mission, the company said, is to reach orbit safely. The company is also looking to land the booster of the vehicle in the Atlantic Ocean after launch. The company said in a statement that the booster landing is “ambitious but we are going for it”

"This is our first flight and we've prepared rigorously for it," said Jarrett Jones, SVP, New Glenn. "But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations is a replacement for flying this rocket. It's time to fly. No matter what happens, we'll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch."

Why It Matters: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorized the first launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn vehicle in late December. The commercial space launch license, valid for five years, allows Blue Origin to conduct orbital missions from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with the New Glenn.

New Glenn is a reusable heavy-lift rocket named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth. The development of the vehicle, expected to compete with SpaceX's Falcon launch vehicle, has been delayed for years.

New Glenn, unlike Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle, can reach the Earth's orbit and beyond. New Shepard, meanwhile, can only reach the edge of space.

New Glenn's first launch will mark the rocket’s first National Security Space Launch certification flight. It will carry the company’s Blue Ring Pathfinder – developed by Blue Origin’s In-Space Systems business unit – as a payload.

SpaceX Eyes Next Starship Test Flight on Jan.10: SpaceX, meanwhile, is looking to launch its ambitious Starship launch vehicle on its seventh test flight on Friday as well. Starship will launch from Starbase in Texas carrying 10 Starlink simulators which are similar in size and weight to the company’s next-generation Starlink satellites.

For the upcoming flight, SpaceX is looking to catch the vehicle's booster back at the launch pad at Starbase with the launch tower's metallic arms like on its fifth test flight in October. However, in case of any safety concerns, the company will splash it down in the Gulf of Mexico, it said.

The Starship is still in development and undergoing testing. While NASA is looking forward to landing humans back on the surface of the Moon after a gap of over 50 years with the help of a custom version of the Starship, Musk dreams of taking humans to the planet Mars aboard the vehicle.

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Photo courtesy: Blue Origin