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2h ago

Blue Origin Scrubs New Glenn ESCAPADE Launch as Weather Closes Window

FAA daytime launch limits now complicate near-term reattempts.

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Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off on January 16 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA’s Escapade spacecraft, or Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, are shown here being inspected and processed at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 22.

Overview

  • Multiple weather holds during the 2:45–4:13 p.m. ET window on Nov. 9 led Blue Origin to call off New Glenn’s second launch attempt at about 4:13 p.m.
  • An FAA order taking effect Nov. 10 restricts commercial launches to 10 p.m.–6 a.m., and Blue Origin says it is working with NASA and the FAA on a possible exemption; the next launch opportunity has not been confirmed.
  • The mission carries NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft, built by Rocket Lab, which will loiter near the Earth–Sun L2 point for about a year before heading to Mars for a planned 2027 arrival; a Viasat communications demo is also aboard.
  • Blue Origin aims to recover the first-stage booster “Never Tell Me the Odds” on the barge Jacklyn after making propellant-management and minor hardware changes following January’s unsuccessful landing.
  • If launched, the plan calls for two BE-3U upper-stage burns, ESCAPADE deployment roughly 33 minutes after liftoff, activation of the Viasat payload minutes later, and disposal of the upper stage into a heliocentric orbit.