Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin readied the company’s powerful New Glenn rocket for its delayed but long-awaited maiden flight early Monday, kicking off a high-stakes bid to compete head-to-head with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its industry dominating Falcon family of rockets.
While more than one successful test flight will be needed to demonstrate the reliability needed for launches of costly NASA probes, high-priority national security payloads and other commercial spacecraft, the New Glenn, nearly 10 years after Bezos announced the project, is expected to be a viable alternative.
Mounted atop pad 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the 321-foot-tall rocket is scheduled for blast off at 1 a.m. EST Monday, the opening of a three-hour window. Blue Origin had hoped to launch the rocket Friday, then Sunday, but both opportunities were ruled out due to rough seas in the booster landing zone…