Pretty aloof
Jeff Bezos’ rocket took off successfully – but then missed the landing
Copy the current link
Elon Musk’s company SpaceX is conquering space, now Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin wants to follow up – and is testing a new, powerful rocket for the first time. With partial success.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has tested its new, powerful rocket “New Glenn” for the first time – with success. At least partially. The approximately 100 meter high rocket, named after US astronaut John Glenn (1921-2016), successfully lifted off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida, as live footage from the company showed, but missed the ambitious landing on a platform in the US Atlantic.
“This is our first flight and we have prepared thoroughly for it,” Blue Origin announced shortly before takeoff on the X platform. “But no amount of ground testing or mission simulation can replace a flight with this rocket.” The most important goal of the test launch is to reach orbit safely. This apparently worked without any problems.
Good takeoff, bad landing
“Anything beyond that is the icing on the cake,” they said. They had to do without that at Blue Origin
Although the rocket reached Earth orbit as planned, it did not land on a platform in the Atlantic. “We’ll try the spring landing again,” wrote Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp on Platform X.
According to the plan, the first, lower stage of “New Glenn” will at some point land upright after its deployment and be able to be reused. This desired landing of the part, also known as the booster, on a platform in the Atlantic did not happen during the test on Thursday night (local time). “We lost the booster during descent,” the company said. The second, upper stage flew as intended. Blue Origin explained that the cargo had also reached the intended target orbit and was receiving data.
Jeff Bezos’ company wants to put satellites and astronauts into space
On board the two-stage heavy-lift rocket had a prototype of the “Blue Ring” spacecraft, which will later launch satellites into space. Among other things, the flight was intended to test the communication capabilities of “Blue Ring” by engineers on Earth.
According to its own information, Blue Origin has been working on the development of the partially reusable rocket, which can transport around 45 tons of material into low Earth orbit, for more than a decade. Astronauts will also be able to use it to complete missions in the future.
According to the company, the first stage of “New Glenn” is designed for at least 25 flights. This will lead to significantly less waste and costs. SpaceX also relies on reusable rocket parts. With other rockets, such as the European launch vehicle Ariane 6, the engines simply fall into the sea.
Blue Origin – competition for SpaceX?
In the future, Blue Origin wants to compete with SpaceX, which currently dominates commercial space travel. Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s space company has been flying for the US space agency Nasa and other clients for years, primarily with its “Falcon Heavy” rocket. The “Falcon Heavy” can transport around 64 tons of material.
Musk congratulated his rival on the successful start. “Congratulations on reaching Earth orbit on the first try!” Musk wrote on his Platform X.
SpaceX is also currently developing the largest rocket system ever built in space history, the “Starship”. Its seventh test flight could take off later this week. So far, Blue Origin has primarily offered short all-round trips for space tourists with the “New Shepard” rocket. Bezos himself was on board on their first flight in 2021.
Note: This article has been updated.
DPA
yks
Source: Stern