Bezos’ Blue Origin Delays Launching Key Rocket Until January

Blue Origin now plans to resume launches of its New Glenn rocket in January, delaying the much-anticipated flight of the vehicle after a destructive launchpad explosion in May.

The Jeff Bezos-backed company had been driving to launch New Glenn again before the end of the year in its quest to challenge SpaceX. But Blue Origin Chief Executive Officer Dave Limp told to employees on Wednesday that they are now targeting a flight early in 2027.

“This small adjustment doesn’t diminish what we’ve accomplished or the importance of the work still ahead,” Limp wrote in a memo to employees seen by Bloomberg. “Returning New Glenn to flight remains our top priority.”

Blue Origin has spent the last six months rebuilding its launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida, after a New Glenn rocket exploded in a massive fireball in May during a ground test. As it has recovered from the explosion, the company has also reworked some of its operations for launching rockets, while zeroing in on the cause of the mishap.

However, Limp noted the rebuild hasn’t been easy, noting bad weather over the summer.

A company spokesperson declined to comment on the news, first reported by the Financial Times.

New Glenn, which is key to Blue Origin’s plans for space exploration, is years behind schedule and has faced longer-than-expected waiting periods between flights. The explosion was the latest blow to its reputation as a reliable alternative to SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

“Your collective work on our return to flight has been nothing short of remarkable,” Limp said in the memo. “In just six months, Team Blue has accomplished what many thought would take years.”

Blue Origin is also a critical partner to NASA in the agency’s Artemis program, which aims to send humans back to the moon for the first time in more than half a century.

The company is developing a lunar lander that can carry astronauts to the lunar surface, and the New Glenn rocket is critical for launching the hardware to space.