WATCH: Liftoff! Jeff Bezos Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket blasts into orbit 

Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos Blue Origin’s giant New Glenn rocket finally blasted off on Thursday morning.

New Glenn, standing at 30 stories tall with a reusable first stage, launched at 2:03am (0703 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the US state of Florida.

Liftoff

The rocket’s inaugural mission had been delayed by several years.

“LIFTOFF! New Glenn is beginning its first ever ascent toward the stars,” Blue Origin said on social media platform X.

Watch: New Glenn blasts off into space

pic.twitter.com/o6sMiSABkR

Read more

Bezos’ Blue Origin delays launch of New Glenn space rocket [VIDEO]

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 16, 2025

Blue Origin said the second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines, adding that the Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well.

ALSO READ: Bezos’ Blue Origin delays launch of New Glenn space rocket [VIDEO]

Boosters

The first-stage booster, which was meant to be reusable, was lost during descent, it added.

“I’m incredibly proud New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt,” said Dave Limp, CEO, Blue Origin. “We knew landing our booster, So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance, on the first try was an ambitious goal. We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring. Thank you to all of Team Blue for this incredible milestone.” 

Blue Origin had intended to land the booster – powered by liquid methane and designed for up to 25 flights – on a drone ship stationed about 1 000 kilometres downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.

Launch

Aboard the New Glenn test flight and now in orbit is a US Defence Department-funded prototype of an advanced spaceship called Blue Ring, which could one day journey through the solar system.

The launch was scrubbed earlier this week, with Blue Origin not immediately sharing the exact problems that engineers were seeking to fix.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket marks a new phase in competition in the commercial space market, posing a challenge to Elon Musk’s dominance in the space race.

Bezos vs Musk

With the mission, dubbed NG-1, Bezos is taking aim at Musk, whose company SpaceX dominates the orbital launch market through its prolific Falcon 9 rockets, vital for the commercial sector, the Pentagon and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa).

While Musk and Bezos have a lifelong passion for space, the Space X CEO dreams of colonising Mars.

Bezos meanwhile envisions shifting heavy industry off-planet onto floating space platforms in order to preserve Earth, “humanity’s blue origin”.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is planning the next orbital test of Starship — its gargantuan new-generation rocket — this week, upping the high-stakes rivalry.

ALSO READ: ‘Infinite possibilities’, new era for stargazing with Wits Digital Dome [VIDEO]