Bezos’ Blue Origin is nearing liftoff on the 1st flight of its newest, biggest rocket

A massive new rocket developed by Blue Origin, the private space firm founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is on the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and ready for its maiden flight as early as Friday, the company has confirmed.

“This is our first flight and we’ve prepared rigorously for it,” said Jarrett Jones, senior vice president of the company’s New Glenn rocket, in an announcement on Monday. “But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations are 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.”

Friday’s three-hour launch window opens at 1 a.m. ET.

Late last month, the company said that New Glenn had successfully completed a “hot fire” test, which it described as “the final major milestone on our road to first flight.” The test — a launch dress rehearsal — included fueling the rocket with liquefied natural gas, liquid oxygen and hydrogen.

The 320-foot-tall New Glenn is designed to place up to 45 metric tons (more than 99,000 pounds) into low-Earth orbit with a first stage returning to Earth to land aboard a sea-based recovery vessel. Although its carrying capacity is similar to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, New Glenn’s 23-foot-diameter cargo section is larger, allowing it to accommodate wider payloads, the company says.

By contrast, SpaceX’s giant Starship, built by rival billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX, rises to nearly 400 feet tall when fully stacked, towering over even the Saturn V rocket that first sent humans around the moon in 1968.

On its maiden flight, New Glenn will carry cargo related to Blue Ring, the company’s multi-role orbital platform. If all goes well, future flights are expected to launch satellites, cargo and — eventually — humans.

Starship, which has yet to reach orbit, is set for a seventh suborbital test on the same day that Blue Origin is hoping to launch.

“This is a pivotal moment in space and one where we’re seeing the benefits of long term investment in the industry,” said Matt Martinez, Boston Consulting Group’s North American lead for the space industry. “It signals … opportunity and technological advancement that will be important to see continued growth.”

New Glenn’s smaller cousin, New Shepard, has flown dozens of tourists and celebrities into space on brief, suborbital flights — including Star Trek actor William Shatner and Ed Dwight, a former U.S. Air Force pilot who was selected to be the first Black astronaut candidate in 1961 but never got a chance to fly with NASA. Both were 90 at the time of their respective flights.

The latest Blue Origin rocket has had its share of problems and delays. It’s been in development for more than a decade and was originally projected to have its first launch in 2020. In September, NASA was forced to push back its latest Mars mission, the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), which was to have flown on New Glenn.

The Blue Origin rocket is named after astronaut John Glenn, who in 1962 became the first American to orbit the Earth. Its New Shepard is named after Alan Shepard, the first U.S. astronaut in space.