Cape Canaveral has a new skyscraper

Blue Origin is preparing to launch the inaugural flight of its New Glenn rocket, a heavy launcher with big ambitions. Named after legendary John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth, the 98-meter (322-foot) tall New Glenn rocket is one of the largest ever developed. It currently stands vertical on Blue Origin’s Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral.

Once it flies successfully, New Glenn will be the third largest operational launch vehicle, just short of SpaceX’s Starship and NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), a big leap from the tiny New Shepard. Read our full feature on New Glenn here.

Supercluster's Jenny Hautmann was invited by Blue Origin to participate in media events surrounding the inaugural flight, joining the company for launch viewing nearby as well as setting up remote cameras to capture New Glenn's liftoff. We are tracking the mission around the clock on the Supercluster App and will be making updates accordingly. A reminder notification will go out to those who opt-in once Blue Origin's embedded mission livestream is broadcasting. Coffee will be brewed and you can download our free app for iOS and Android here.

Before the first launch window, Jenny joined Reuter's Joey Roulette for a flight over Florida's Space coast to scope out the massive new rocket and grab some aerial shots. Our friend and legendary space coast photographer Michael Seeley, who took a boat out with Starfleet Tours to see the rocket, shared some shots with Supercluster. And we've included some striking images produced by Blue Origin themselves and shared with the space press pool.

Blue Origin has moved the launch date a couple of times due to weather and a technical issue that has since been resolved. They are now targeting late night-early morning of Thursday, January 16th, during a three-hour window that opens at 1:00 AM EST for liftoff. New Glenn will carry Blue Origin's Blue Ring Pathfinder spacecraft, a deployment platform they are testing for future customer missions. An attempt to recover the rocket’s booster will be made by flying it home for a landing on the company's barge, Jacklyn, which will be parked in the Atlantic Ocean.

The first booster making this attempt is called 'So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance.'