Jeff Bezos' newest rocket is now one step closer to liftoff. On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration said it granted a commercial license to launch Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, the first step to be completed before the company can send up national security satellites, reports Reuters. The license, valid for five years, will give Blue Origin the ability to carry out orbital missions from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. After launch, and if all goes well, the company's reusable, first-stage New Glenn—named after astronaut John Glenn—will touch down on a barge in the Atlantic.
Blue Origin carried out a 24-second test fire of the rocket's engines on Friday evening, known as a "hot fire," per the New York Times, which called the event the "last big technical hurdle" before an actual launch. A date for said launch hasn't been announced, despite earlier reports predicting one before the end of the year. At this point, it looks like Jan. 6 might be the earliest possible date, at least according to a recent aviation industry advisory. "This is a monumental milestone and a glimpse of what's just around the corner for New Glenn's first launch," Jarrett Jones, a senior VP for Blue Origin, said in a statement, per Space.com.
The 32-story-high New Glenn was originally set to take off in October, with a pair of NASA orbiters bound for Mars, but Blue Origin didn't look like it would be ready in time, so NASA ditched the collaboration. The first test flight will carry Blue Ring technology, which Blue Origin is developing to help maneuver other spacecraft in Earth's orbit. Blue Origin was selected in June, along with SpaceX and Boeing-Lockheed's United Launch Alliance, for coveted Pentagon rocket-launch contracts. (More Blue Origin stories.)
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