This is just a public service announcement to everyone on this sub to be careful searching for livestreams for the inaugural launch of New Glenn on YouTube.

Even though the fake launch livestreams haven’t appeared (yet), I do have every reason to believe that NG-1 will become a target of the crypto scammers running fake launch livestreams on YouTube.

Not only have these shysters targeted Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos, and Amazon in the past, but the same "Deepfake Musk" scammers targeting SpaceX also have been known to target other launch providers (like United Launch Alliance) during high-profile launches like the Starliner CFT.

And since this topic has last come up on this sub (4 years ago), the scammers have unfortunately become a lot more sophisticated (and even more devious) in terms of their fake livestreams.

For example, instead of giving themselves right away like they used to (with a massive QR code and scam announcement) they will instead either replay footage from a previous launch or use something akin to a "stream starting soon" screen (like this -- which was shown during Starliner CFT)

https://preview.redd.it/e3hid1w91cce1.png?width=1440&format=png&auto=webp&s=c00c9774a42c714d2e08694076ae96cb5e68808e

Then after some time, (I believe in the case of Starship IFT-4, they waited until the clock showed around T-20 seconds before pulling the bait and switch), the scammers will then spring the trap and have a deepfake of Musk (or some other celebrity) appear to shill whatever crypto-based scam these shysters are pulling.

And the problem with a scam like this is that there are often four sets of victims involved.

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1. The original content creator (who had their YouTube channel hacked).

Reportedly, the scammers will send a malicious phishing email -- purporting to be a lucrative sponsorship deal -- to YouTube creators. And when an unsuspecting person opens the email attachment, it runs malware which steals the victim's session cookies (which the scammer can then use to bypass the victim’s MFA and hijack their YouTube channel).

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2. The people who fall for the actual scam (and send money to the crypto scammers).   

Yes, there are unfortunately real victims that fall for this type of ruse.  

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3. The celebrity and company being impersonated.

Again, the Musk or Bezos you see in these streams are deepfakes (and not the real celebrity). Plus, the scammers have been known to also show fake tweets from said celebrity as well (to add even more apparent legitimacy to the scam).

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4. The spaceflight enthusiasts who end up missing the launch.

Even if you don’t fall for the crypto scam being shown, you may still end up missing the actual launch you were trying to watch.

Again, these scammers are patient and will wait until a large amount of people join their fake webcast before they show themselves. And by which point, the real T-0 time may have already elapsed (causing the spaceflight enthusiasts who tuned into the fake livestream to miss the actual launch).

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TIPS ON HOW TO STAY SAFE:

1. Stay off YouTube completely: the New Glenn livestream may be also broadcast through other sites like X, Amazon Prime Video, etc.

2. Check Blue’s website and socials for official updates *(*they’ll likely link to the public feed on all social media accounts).

3. Use a direct URL (or Google Search): to navigate to Blue Origin’s official channel.

4. Watch the launch coverage from a trusted third-party:

NASASpaceflight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YBAsi5pY2o

The Launch Pad Network:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ial10zCijzo

Everyday Astronaut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1D8ymH0cHoQ

5. Don’t trust everything you see on the YT home page or in your recommended feed

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ADDITIONAL TIPS ON HOW TO SPOT FAKE CHANNELS:

·       Check to see if a channel has a verified checkmark:

Though not 100% reliable, it can allow you to spot a lot of fakes.

·       Check the sub and video count:

If the channel has close to the 276k subs and 156 videos that are currently listed on Blue’s official YouTube Page (as of the time of writing), then you’re probably in the right place.

·       Avoid any YouTube livestreams purporting to be from SpaceX:

SpaceX has no business livestreaming a Blue Origin launch. Plus SpaceX's own official launch coverage (for Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Starship) is streamed exclusively on X and their website (not YouTube).

·       Compare the T-0 clock and launch date against that shown on EDA’s website:

Sometimes, the scammers may show fake livestreams days (or hours) before or after a launch takes place. As such, the countdown clock (in the livestream) often has no bearing on reality.

·       Avoid New Glenn livestreams with titles containing the following words:

“Musk”, “Bezos”, “SpaceX”, “Announcement”, or “Update”.  

·       If crypto is mentioned on a launch livestream (especially if it is by Musk or Bezos):

RUN!!!

Any other KSP nerds see this?

Anyone have any information if the Honeybee Robotics facility in Altadena has survived the Eaton Fire?

Hey Reddit,

I have an interview coming up for the Blue Origin Finance Intern position, and I’m both excited and nervous! I’d really appreciate any advice from those who’ve been through similar interviews or work in the field.

Specifically, I’m wondering:

• What kind of questions should I prepare for? Are they more focused on technical skills, behavioral questions, or a mix of both?
• For technical topics, what should I focus on? (e.g., financial modeling, variance analysis, Excel, etc.)
• Any tips for standing out as a candidate?
• Is there anything specific about Blue Origin I should know to make a strong impression?

I’d love to hear your thoughts, especially on what technical skills/topics I should brush up on beforehand. Thanks so much for your help! 🚀

From the Spaceflight Now Live Feeds at Cape Canaveral and Boca Chica

This is such a beautiful sight! Going vertical. I can’t wait for Blue Origin’s New Glenn Maiden Flight 😀

By Cat Hofacker|January 9, 2025

Inaugural launch of heavy-lift rocket could establish Blue Origin as a welcome competitor to SpaceX, ULA for national security launches

This story has been updated to reflect the new launch date. 

Latin is a dead language, but Blue Origin has made two Latin words famous in the space industry: “gradatim ferociter,” or “step by step, ferociously.”

The company’s most ferocious step yet in the rocket marketplace will be attempted Sunday morning during a launch window that opens at 1 a.m. Eastern, technology and weather permitting at the launch site and the booster landing zone in the Atlantic Ocean. Blue scrubbed the original Friday morning window “due to a high sea state in the Atlantic.”

At pad 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station stands New Glenn, a 98-meter-tall space launch vehicle of a design that has never left the ground before. Aboard is a pathfinder version of Blue Ring, a logistics spacecraft that would stay in orbit to ferry payloads to their destination orbits and refuel other spacecraft.

“This New Glenn is not launching crew anytime soon, and therefore [the inaugural launch] is lower stakes” than the company’s other big debut, the 2021 launch of a New Shepard capsule with people aboard for the first time, says astrophysicist Laura Forcyzk, founder of the Georgia consulting firm Astralytical. “But they still want to succeed so they can prove to the market that it is safe and reliable.”.....

"https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/generals-spies-and-moguls-cross-their-fingers-for-bezos-new-glenn/"

Blue Origin to launch its 1st New Glenn rocket early Jan. 10: Watch it live

Our endgame is a space-faring civilization, isn’t it? Ditch digging on Mars won’t make us space-farers. It would make us ditch diggers.

The oil of space is water, and the water is in the outer reaches of the solar system - it is so chock-full of water there that the spit on our planet disappears in comparison. However, the planetary objects in our system (and, from what we know currently, in other systems) are not suitable for colonization, and don’t even start me on terraforming - what is just a single click in a video game in the real world would take tremendous amounts of resources and time with the hope that we can somehow fine-tune the planet to be Earth-like. And even after terraforming, Mars will still have unhealthy low gravity.

The Moon is one common type of object that we have to learn to deal with. This is how you reach Neptune and beyond. You know, scientists expect to find more minor and major planets in the outer solar system - terraform that. It is also suspected that rogue planets may outnumber stars, and there is a good chance that there are rogue planets closer to us than Proxima b is. The “planet colonization” mindset won’t get us far; we need to learn to “live off the land.”

A true space-faring civilization may shrug off a planet like Mars. Now, I’m not saying that we should completely ignore it, since it is the next best thing closest to our homeworld and establishing some presence there is a rather low-hanging fruit compared to smelting regolith to build a rotating wheel space station. But Mars should not distract us from what has to be done to win the endgame.

January 6, 2025

 — John Glenn's last correspondence before his death was to approve the use of his name for Blue Origin's first orbital-class rocket.

Nine years later, the "New Glenn" is ready for its inaugural launch. Though he did not live to see it come about, Glenn — the first American to orbit Earth in 1962 — hailed the booster's soon-to-be-demonstrated capabilities for what they could hold for the future of human spaceflight.

"As the original Glenn, I can tell you I see the day coming when people will board spacecraft the same way millions of us now board jetliners," wrote the Mercury astronaut and U.S. Senator in 2016, adding that he was "deeply touched" that the New Glenn would fly with his name.

One of the key factors to that future becoming a reality is the ability to "to get to space more often and more inexpensively," Glenn wrote, which is why the New Glenn was designed to "be reused over and over again."

At the time Glenn wrote his letter, the only commercial rocket to launch, land and be reused was Blue Origin's New Shepard sub-orbital booster. It was not until a month after Glenn's death that SpaceX followed with the first orbital launch of a "flight proven" Falcon 9 rocket......

" http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-010625a-blue-origin-new-glenn-rocket-name.html "

I like Blue as a company and I think there is a clear purpose to what they do. However something annoys me and it might be even wrong: They call New shepard guests astronauts. This is the company that names its rockets after real astronauts as homage. Am I wrong to feel a little off? Would it be so bad if they call their customers tourists instead of astronauts?