Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will attempt its first rocket launch in over a year on Monday after a booster failure in September 2022 led to the company being grounded.
Blue Origin’s unmanned New Shepard rocket will aim to lift off around 9:30 ET, or 14:30 GMT, from the company’s West Texas facility.
#NS24 is targeting lift off tomorrow at 8:30 AM CST / 14:30 UTC. Webcast begins T-20 minutes on https://t.co/7Y4TherpLr. ???? pic.twitter.com/u6ptLwCPfa
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 17, 2023
Having carried out both crewed and unmanned flights in the past, Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital rocket was grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration late last year.
This had been after a crash caused by a faulty engine nozzle which overheated, with the regulator subsequently giving Blue Origin a list of 21 corrective actions before another flight could be launched.
Monday’s flight will mark the twenty-fourth for New Shepard and the thirteenth carrying a payload, with some 38,000 postcards from students set to be onboard.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos had set up Blue Origin in 2000, with the company ultimately aiming to develop reusable rocket technology for comercial space flight.