Amazon-owned Blue Origin pulled the plug on the launch of its first orbital class rocket after several delays to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue.

The company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos planned to launch its New Glenn rocket on 13 January from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the US state of Florida.

Blue Origin is attempting to compete against Elon Musk-owned SpaceX for the launch of commercial rockets which deliver various satellite payloads.

SpaceX also launches its rockets from Cape Canaveral along with sites in the states of Texas and California.

AST SpaceMobile used SpaceX to launch its first five birds in 2024, but later inked a multi-year agreement with Blue Origin to use its New Glenn rocket, which it intends to use to put some of its Block 2 BlueBird satellites into low Earth orbit.

The direct-to-device satellite company previously stated it plans to launch the second-generation birds with a larger array and up to ten-times more capacity than its originals this year.

On its Q3 2024 earnings call, chair and CEO Abel Avellan stated AST SpaceMobile plans to launch approximately 60 satellites from the Cape Canaveral Florida Space Force Station over the next two years using SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets.