By BlueShift and AFP | 2025-01-16

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- Blue Origin, the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, launched its massive New Glenn rocket into orbit for the first time early January 16, marking a new step in the commercial space race.

The rocket, whose inaugural mission was dubbed NG-1, had been delayed by several years. It blasted off at 2.03am local time from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, a live webcast showed.

The mission is seen as critical to Blue Origin's efforts to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX, which dominates the commercial space industry.

"LIFTOFF! New Glenn is beginning its first ever ascent toward the stars," Blue Origin posted on X.

"New Glenn has passed the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of space!" the firm posted just a few minutes later.

Lessons learned

Blue Origin said in a statement that the second-stage engine had reached "its final orbit," adding that the Blue Ring advanced spaceship prototype that was along for the ride was "receiving data and performing well."

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

"I'm incredibly proud New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt," Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said in the statement.

"We knew landing our booster... on the first try was an ambitious goal. We'll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring."

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 1,000km downrange in the Atlantic Ocean.

SpaceX has made such landings now routine, but this would have been Blue Origin's first shot at the feat.

An initial test launch of the towering 98-meter rocket, dubbed New Glenn in honor of American astronaut John Glenn, had been scrubbed early January 13 after repeated halts during the countdown.

The company later said it had discovered an icing issue on a purge line and postponed the launch.

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

Blue Origin has already secured a NASA contract to launch two Mars probes aboard New Glenn. The rocket will also support the deployment of Project Kuiper, a satellite internet constellation designed to compete with Starlink.