The launch of a giant, partially reusable rocket built by Jeff Bezos’ company was canceled this morning after hours of delays.

The 98 meter high rocket called New Glenn is about the same height as Big Ben. It was intended to carry up to 45 tons of technology into low Earth orbit.

The Blue Origin team, Amazon founder Mr Bezos The space company confirmed this morning that the launch has been canceled.

The decision came after a series of delays due to unspecified issues.

How it happened: Check out our coverage from the launch

The team said it would work out a new date for the launch, adding: “We can’t wait to be back here for our next launch attempt.”

The team said this morning that it was “working through anomalies.”

In an interview before the launch, Mr. Bezos said: “The thing we’re most worried about is landing the boosters.”

“Of course, an anomaly can occur in any phase of a mission during a first flight, so anything can happen,” he said.

The developers of New Glenn’s hope it will be a challenge SpaceXs Falcon 9 rocket, which has become the workhorse when it comes to launching heavy cargo into space.

However, it took years for Blue Origin to get to this point.

They began developing the orbital rocket nearly a decade ago, but setbacks and delays delayed its maiden flight.

Ahead of the launch, SpaceX founder and X owner Elon Musk shared his support, writing “Good luck” in response to a Blue Origin post on its platform.

Reusable first stage

The rocket – named New Glenn in honor of NASA astronaut John Glenn – consists of two stages, one of which is reusable.

The first, reusable stage will use seven engines to propel the rocket from the launch pad into higher, thinner air and then fall back to Earth to land on an ocean platform called Jacklyn.

This first stage is designed for at least 25 flights, making it more cost-effective and sustainable than building new rockets for each flight.

The second, available phase stores cargo and items needed for missions.

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The two restartable engines on board are activated once the first stage has used all of its fuel.

They will put the rest of the spacecraft into orbit.

charge

Rockets like these are designed to carry things into orbit or space, so they need to be able to carry cargo.

When Mr. Musk launched SpaceX’s first Falcon Heavy rocket in 2018, he brought his old red Tesla Roadster on board.

Mr. Bezos has never done anything so conspicuous. Instead, he loaded a prototype cargo ship called the Blue Ring Pathfinder onto New Glenn.

In the future, the Pathfinder will be able to launch 3,000 kg of scientific equipment into space and deliver it to various locations in orbit.

During this test flight, the team on the ground will ensure they can establish communication with the Pathfinder once it is in orbit.