Blue Origin launch of huge New Glenn rocket with NASA Mars probes delayed by weather, next try set for Nov. 12.

Blue Origin called off the launch of its giant New Glenn rocket carrying twin NASA Mars probes on Sunday (Nov. 9) due to bad weather at its Florida pad, one day before new federal restrictions take effect for commercial spaceflights.

The planned New Glenn launch was expected to send NASA's twin Mars ESCAPADE orbiters on a winding path to the Red Planet from Blue Origin's Launch Complex 36 pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station here. But throughout an 88-minute window for the launch, foul weather kept the Mars-bound mission stuck on Earth. The next attempt to fly will be Wednesday (Nov. 12).

The delay led Blue Origin to work with the Federal Aviation Administration to secure an exception in order to fly again. That's because the backup launch days for New Glenn's ESCAPADE launch are on Nov. 10 and 11 during the afternoon. But on Friday, the FAA announced an indefinite halt to all commercial launches during daytime hours to ease workloads on air traffic controllers working without pay during the government shutdown.

Source: www.space.com

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