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Blue Origin could try again to send up its New Glenn rocket for the first time with an overnight launch early Thursday, but the weather forecast could pose problems.

The heavy-lift rocket for Jeff Bezos’ company is trying to become a competitor for SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. Dubbed NG-1, the mission has a launch window from 1-4 a.m. set to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36, and a backup window early Friday during the same timeframe.

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts only a 40% chance for good launch conditions during the Thursday window, and projects a moderate chance for bad conditions downrange where the company will attempt to recover the rocket’s booster. A 24-hour delay sees conditions improve to 90% for good weather at the launch site, but still a moderate chance for bad weather in the Atlantic.

The attempt follows an early Monday morning scrub that had great weather conditions, but ultimately fell victim to issues at the launch pad. The company stated that ice had formed on a purge line of an auxiliary power unit that powered some hydraulic systems. Blue Origin recycled the countdown clock several times trying to work through the problem, but ultimately called it off. read more

SeaWorld Orlando is expanding its concert lineup for its Seven Seas Food Festival to include Friday night performances. The park also has released some new menu items that will be available for purchase during the event, which runs on select dates between Jan. 31 and May 4.

The scheduled performances, held at SeaWorld’s Bayside Stadium, currently include:

• Feb. 1: Boys Like Girls.

• Feb. 2: Sara Evans.

• Feb. 8: Expose.

• Feb. 14: Turnstiles: Billy Joel Tribute.

• Feb. 15: Molly Hatchet.

• Feb. 16: Absolute Queen Tribute.

• Feb. 21: LeCrae.

• Feb. 28: The Bee Gees Now! Tribute.

• March 1: Warrant.

• March 7: Starship featuring Mickey Thomas.

• March 16: ZZ Top.

• March 23: Luis Fonsi.

• April 26: Mitchell Tenpenny.

More dates will be announced later, SeaWorld says. There will be 27 live concerts during the 2025 festival, and they are included with regular SeaWorld Orlando admission.

Among the new food items on sale during the Seven Seas Food Festival will be Jamaican jerk chicken and pork pincho at the Caribbean Market; garlic toast chicken parmigiana (Italian Market), strawberry pouffe (Irish Market) and veggie samosas (Indian market).  New cocktails on the menu will include blueberry whiskey smash, negroni, orange crush (vodka, candied orange, triple sec, orange juice) and lychee bliss. A full menu for the 25 markets is available on SeaWorld’s official web site. read more

SpaceX is ready to send up its first test flight of the year for its Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Texas, but delayed it one day to Thursday, when the company will once again go for a booster catch back at the launch site.

The seventh test flight overall for the 396-foot-tall combined rocket is aiming for liftoff from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas during a 60-minute launch window that opens at 5 p.m. EST.

The Super Heavy booster powered by 33 Raptor engines produces up to 16.7 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, making it the most powerful rocket in history to reach space, although so far all the test flights have been suborbital with the upper Starship stage only traveling partway around the Earth with target splashdown landings in the Indian Ocean near Australia.

The seventh flight will attempt the same flight path, and SpaceX will try to repeat the spectacle it achieved on its fifth test flight last year nailing a recovery capture of the Super Heavy booster back at the launch tower using what the company calls the tower’s “chopsticks,” which swivel in to grab hold of the booster as it makes a powered, hovering descent. read more

By BARBARA ORTUTAY

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued billionaire Elon Musk, saying he failed to disclose his ownership of Twitter stock in a timely manner in early 2022, before buying the social media site.