A new rocket that has never been flown is waiting at a launchpad in Florida. It's called New Glen.
On Monday, the vehicle's seven powerful engines will be ignited and lifted into orbit for the first time. This flight has a lot to offer.
New Glenn was built by Blue Origin, a private spaceflight company founded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Compared to SpaceX and some other companies, the rocket is a bit of a latecomer in the private space race. Monday's test flight will take the company from the starting blocks to the track.
If this mission is successful, New Glenn will immediately provide companies and government agencies with additional options for launching large satellites and spacecraft.
It would also suggest that Bezos' company could eventually grow into a reliable competitor to Elon Musk's SpaceX.
But if a major failure occurs during flight, payloads from NASA, Amazon, and other customers could be stranded on the ground for months or even years.
Here's what else you need to know about Monday's flight.
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At the time of launch: The flight, which Blue Origin calls NG-1, will begin at 1 a.m. ET on Monday and has a launch window lasting three hours. The rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. If the launch is canceled due to weather or technical problems, Blue Origin can try again every night until Thursday. Blue Origin announced that it began filling the rocket with propellant on the X at 8 p.m.
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How to watch the launch: Blue Origin will begin a live video stream of launch preparation on its website and YouTube channel one hour before launch. If the launch occurs at the beginning of the 1 a.m. ET launch window, Blue Origin will begin the video stream at midnight. The Times will provide updates if the timing of the launch and livestream changes.
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Why the release is so slow: That's what the Federal Aviation Administration ordered. “That launch period will have little impact on aviation,” Bezos said in an interview.
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About rockets: New Glenn is approximately the same height as the Statue of Liberty, excluding the pedestal. This rocket has a larger payload than other rockets currently in service. Monday's flight carried a prototype of Blue Ring, a vehicle Blue Origin is developing to move payloads to different orbits after they go into space.
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Blue Origin Stretch Goals: New Glenn's booster stages are reusable. Blue Origin attempts to land a booster on a barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean. The company knows this will be a difficult feat to accomplish during the rocket's debut flight, so it named the booster “So You're Telling Me There's a Chance.”
