Yesterday proved to be an emotional roller coaster for private space exploration. Both Blue Origin and SpaceX achieved notable successes tempered by huge challenges during their respective rocket launches from Florida and Texas. Keeping in mind that both launches were considered test flights, it’s fair to say that both companies have a lot to celebrate and also a lot to work on to perfect their respective flight systems.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn
Blue Origin celebrated a major achievement as its New Glenn rocket, named after the pioneering astronaut John Glenn, successfully reached orbit during its debut flight. Launched from Launch Complex 36 at 2:03 AM EST from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the mission was Blue Origin’s first to orbit, a critical step for the company as it joins the competition for government and commercial customers.
Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
“We hit our key, critical, number-one objective, we got to orbit safely,” announced Blue Origin VP Ariane Cornell during a company livestream, signifying the mission’s primary goal had been met. However, the joy was somewhat muted as the booster, named “So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,” failed to land on the recovery vessel “Jacklyn” in the Atlantic Ocean.
“We may very well have lost the booster,” a company commentator acknowledged as telemetry and video froze during descent on New Glenn’s first stage. That assessment proved to be true, and the booster, nicknamed “So You’re Telling Me There’s A Chance” was lost.
Photo: Amazon.com
Blue Origin has not officially named a specific failure that led to the booster’s loss, but launch viewers noted that a loss of one of the seven BE-4 engines seemed to occur moments before the telemetry from the vehicle caused the live feed to be lost permanently.
Despite this setback, Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp emphasized learning from the anomalies yesterday, stating, “We knew landing our booster … on the first try was an ambitious goal. We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring.”
Despite the loss of the booster, the launch of New Glenn and its successfully orbiting its payload. represents Blue Origin’s entry into the orbital launch market, and could change the current dynamics the launch services market, which is currently dominated by SpaceX.
SpaceX’s Starship Flight 7
Later on Thursday, in Boca Chica, Texas, SpaceX conducted the seventh test flight of its Starship.
The test was a mix of triumph and failure — the Super Heavy booster flew nominally, and successfully returned to its launch site, where it was caught by the “chopsticks” of the launch tower.
The catch brings SpaceX to a 2-1 record on catch attempts following a successful return during the company’s IFT-5 mission and aborted attempt during IFT-6 with the booster being directed to land offshore.
Later in the flight, things were not quite so rosy. After a successfully staging, igniting its engines and flying nominally for a time, there was a sudden failure with a total loss of the data.
SpaceX commentators were measured as they noted the loss of telemetry and finally the loss of the vehicle. At no point did they speculate past the information they had on hand, and they delivered the bad news when they had it.
Later, Elon Musk was offered an explanation of events on X: “Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity,” he said.
“Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase vent area. Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month.”
That launch may be delayed longer than Musk or SpaceX would like.
As a result of the failure, the FAA diverted air traffic from the area for a short time following the mishap and the re-entry of debris was clearly visible in the Turks and Caicos, a British Overseas Department southwest of The Bahamas. There are reports of debris landing in
Industry experts believe the breakup will likely trigger another FAA safety investigation with the Starship vehicle being grounded while it is conducted, potentially delaying future launches of Starship until a mishap report with acceptable remediations is submitted. That is standard procedure for experimental flight.
Looking Forward
Blue Origin’s failure was within the formal area of exclusion for the vehicle during its flight and subsequent landing zone, so it is possible that the FAA may waive an investigation.
In the case of SpaceX, with debris overflying a populated area and with the FAA temporarily requiring airlines to reroute their flights to avoid Starship debris. While SpaceX’s vehicle may also have failed within its designated flight corridor, those factors may lead to a required mishap investigation, or it may not.
How this will affect the Artemis Project — Starship is planned to be used as the Human Landing System for lunar excursions is unknown at this time.
Talk of Titusville has reached out to the FAA asking if they will require a formal investigation for either or both flights. We will pass along that information when it is made available.
Despite the booster’s failure to land, Blue Origin’s successful orbit with New Glenn was deemed a success and that has opened new avenues for future missions, including NASA’s ESCAPADE to Mars and Amazon’s Kuiper constellation. According to Blue Origin, that next flight could come late in Q1 or in early Q2 of 2025.
As for SpaceX, the partial success with the Starship Flight 7 test flight was a good news/bad news situation. The company recovered Stage 1 with aplomb but it is clear that improvements will be required for the Starship vehicle prior to flying again.
Stay Tuned.
Important Note: this article was co-written by Richard P. Gallagher of Florida Media Now.
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