Blue Origin's New Glenn return to flight slips into January 2027
From the Space digest for Nov 5, 2026
What happened: Blue Origin has pushed New Glenn's next launch into January 2027, per two people familiar with the matter and an internal memo from CEO Dave Limp seen by Reuters and first reported by the Financial Times. The heavy-lift rocket has been grounded since exploding on the company's only launchpad in May 2026, days before it was set to carry Amazon satellites to orbit — an explosion that badly damaged the Florida launchpad. Limp told employees that summer weather caused delays, with recent flash floods in the region, but the Vehicle Access Tower had been repaired and restacked and the launch bridge restored.
What's genuinely new: the delay is now sourced rather than read out of air-traffic paperwork: the working return-to-flight marker had been a late-December slot (an advisory listing the mission as net December 28, 2026), with NASA's administrator calling it "December or January" — Reuters's sources and Limp's memo now put it in January 2027.
Watch: whether the January target holds, and the knock-on for Amazon's Leo internet constellation, which relies on Blue Origin as a key launch provider.