Blue Origin plans to flight-test its first orbital launch vehicle, with liftoff of New Glenn from Cape Canaveral SFS targeted for the early hours of Jan. 10.
"When you’re using taxpayer direct dollars to fund something, you don't want to fail," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says. "I think that's a huge mistake."
A decade ago, SpaceX launched six Falcon 9 rockets in a year—now, it could be on track for an orbital launch rate of 136 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flights.
Blue Origin reiterated its plan to launch the first New Glenn orbital rocket this month, with a key static hot-fire of the reusable first stage still pending.
