Blue Origin to launch its 1st New Glenn rocket early Jan. 12: Watch it live

Blue Origin plans to launch the debut mission of its powerful New Glenn rocket no earlier than early Sunday (Jan. 12) after a delay, and you can watch the action live.

New Glenn is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the wee hours of Sunday during a three-hour window that opens at 1 a.m. EST (0600 GMT).

You can watch the launch live via Blue Origin beginning about an hour before liftoff. Space.com will carry the feed as well if the company makes it available. The launch was initially scheduled for Jan. 10, but Blue Origin postponed it due to rough offshore weather that could affect a rocket landing on the company’s recovery ship in the Atlantic.

The 320-foot-tall (98 meters) New Glenn, which Blue Origin has been developing for about a decade, features a reusable first stage, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

Blue Origin will attempt to recover the first stage on Sunday morning, landing the booster in the Atlantic Ocean on its Landing Platform Vessel 1. That barge is nicknamed Jacklyn, after the mother of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.

New Glenn won’t deploy any satellites on Friday’s mission, which Blue Origin calls NG-1. But the rocket is carrying a payload: a test version of the company’s new “Blue Ring” spacecraft platform.

“The pathfinder will validate Blue Ring’s communications capabilities from orbit to ground,” Blue Origin wrote in a mission description last month.

“The mission will also test its in-space telemetry, tracking and command hardware, and ground-based radiometric tracking that will be used on the future Blue Ring production space vehicle,” the company added. “The pathfinder will remain onboard New Glenn’s second stage for the duration of an expected six-hour mission.”

A Blue Origin Blue Ring payload pathfinder with its massive rocket fairings.

The Blue Origin Blue Ring Pathfinder payload with its massive rocket fairings that will fly on the company’s first New Glenn rocket. (Image credit: Blue Origin)

It’s tough to predict what will happen on Sunday; debut flights are often preceded by delays, and it’s rare for one to go off entirely without a hitch. But NG-1 will be a great learning opportunity for Blue Origin in any case, company representatives said.

“It’s time to fly,” Jarrett Jones, SVP for New Glenn, said in a statement on Monday (Jan. 8), when Blue Origin announced the target launch date. “No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:23 p.m. EST to include details about the launch delay to Sunday, Jan. 12, for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.