Good morning, friends, it’s your Space Coast correspondent James Sparvero.
I’ve talked a lot in the last few weeks about the future of NASA’s SLS and SpaceX’s Starship but in the meantime, there’s been another big rocket pointed toward the stars still awaiting its first launch.
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This is my third time writing to you since August trying to keep everybody updated on the path to flight for Blue Origin’s New Glenn.
Like other new rockets, Jeff Bezos’ heavy-lifter is years behind schedule but over the summer, it was looking like the 300-foot new kid on the block could finally take off in October.
As Halloween passed, New Glenn made it to the launch pad but still no launch.
The first mission was originally going to be launching two NASA satellites to Mars but because interplanetary missions have time constraints, liftoff can’t be until at least spring now.
So now, Blue Origin is planning to fly first without a paying customer. Its own Blue Ring spacecraft will be the first cargo and, like SpaceX, they’ll attempt to land the reusable booster on a ship.
But there’s still no launch date yet for NG-1 as we’re still waiting for a hot fire test. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp says they’re just waiting on regulatory approval. (The closeup tanking video of the booster is still really cool).
I walk my dog on south Cocoa Beach almost daily and each time I look north to pad 36 at those giant lightning towers and water tower, I imagine how spectacular the first liftoff is going to be and how big the crowds will be with the excellent visibility from the beach.
Now that we know SLS won’t launch again until at least 2026 and Starship is still a ways out from launching locally, should New Glenn not launch before the end of the year, it could be our biggest launch of 2025! Here’s hoping it won’t take much longer.
📧 Do you have any specific space topics you’d like to discuss? Send me an email here.
👋 Here’s a little bit more about me.
Little did I know when watching Apollo 13 in the third grade that 20 years later, I was destined for a thrilling career as your Space Coast multimedia journalist.
Chemistry and biology weren’t so interesting to me in high school science, but I loved my Earth and Space class (Thanks, Mr. Lang).
Then in 2016, I traded Capitol correspondent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for space correspondent. I’m proud that my first live report at News 6 happened to be the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 booster on a barge. What seems so routine now was a really big deal that day in our newsroom!
From there, I’ve covered the Commercial Crew program and the return of human spaceflight to Kennedy Space Center (Demo-2 launched on my 33rd birthday!)
Now, as our coverage looks forward to missions to the moon and Mars, I often tell others I have the best job in local news. Because after all I’ve seen so far, I think I would be bored working somewhere else. I even bought a house near the Cape with a great view to the north so I never miss a launch even when I’m not working.
After eight years on the beat, though, I still consider myself a young space reporter and I always look forward to learning something new with every assignment.
Have a great launch into the rest of your week!