The solar activity that’s been lighting up the night sky across North America this week is now causing Jeff Bezos’ space company to push back the second launch of its New Glenn mega-rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Just hours before the scheduled launch on Wednesday, Blue Origin said it is standing down from the attempt due to the solar activity and its “potential effects on the ESCAPADE spacecraft” — a Mars-bound science mission the company is carrying to space for NASA. A new launch date has not yet been announced.
New Glenn’s first launch in January was mostly a successful demonstration mission of the rocket. Blue Origin delayed the second launch multiple times, though, and the company is being cautious since this is the first time the rocket has a commercial payload onboard.
New Glenn nearly took off this past Sunday, but weather concerns and an errant cruise ship in the flight path, plus some issues with the launchpad equipment, caused the company to shelve the attempt.
