Tonight New Glenn ignited all seven of its BE-4 engines together for the first time!

The 24 second static fire was the culmination of a weeks-long testing campaign of the full New Glenn stack including the GS1 first stage, GS2 second stage, payload fairing, and mass simulator. The static fire was nearly flawless, but the onboard computers experienced an anomaly that is (believed) to have been caused by a software glitch, resulting in a premature shutdown. However, the team is confident in pursing a launch as soon as possible!

The previous tests from the past few weeks included a tanking test, tests of the flight computers ability to handle the launch countdown, and a full wet dress rehearsal where both stages of the rocket were fully fueled and a launch countdown initiated, but ending just prior to engine ignition.

New Glenn fires its engines. Credit: Dave Limp/Blue Origin

Earlier in the day, Blue Origin was granted a launch license by the FAA; so all that is left on the checklist for New Glenns first launch is rollback for integration of its Blue Ring Pathfinder payload, along with some final checkouts before launch, according to Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp.