Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space company, Blue Origin, launched its first rocket, New Glenn, into orbit on Thursday, marking a significant step in its competition with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The New Glenn rocket lifted off at 2:02 a.m. ET (7:02 a.m. GMT) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch successfully carried the Blue Ring Pathfinder, a demonstration satellite, into orbit.
Dave Limp, Blue Origin’s CEO, expressed pride in the achievement, stating, “We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring.”
While the primary mission was successful, the company failed in its secondary goal of safely landing the rocket’s main engine, or booster, on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. The booster was intended to be reused for future launches, but it was lost after about 20 minutes of flight.
Musk congratulated Bezos on the milestone, posting on X, “Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt!”
The launch highlights the rivalry between two of the world’s richest men. Both Bezos and Musk are competing in a commercial space race to build more powerful rockets, deploy satellite networks, and explore space tourism and lunar transport.
New Glenn, named after astronaut John Glenn, is more powerful than SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and can carry more satellites. It is a key part of Bezos’s Project Kuiper, which aims to deploy thousands of satellites to provide broadband services, challenging Musk’s Starlink network.
The launch was delayed earlier in the week due to technical issues caused by ice formation. However, the team overcame these challenges, and Blue Origin employees and spectators celebrated as the 98-meter-high rocket roared into space.
Bezos founded Blue Origin 25 years ago with the vision of enabling “millions of people working and living in space.” While Blue Origin has previously focused on smaller missions with its New Shepard rocket, this launch positions the company as a serious competitor to SpaceX, which completed 134 launches last year alone.
Some experts believe New Glenn’s success could foster healthy competition between the two companies. Dr. Simeon Barber from the Open University in the UK commented, “What you are going to see are these two companies challenge each other to make even greater strides.”
NASA, which has increasingly turned to private companies for space missions, has already awarded large contracts to SpaceX. However, with Blue Origin’s progress, the competition could drive down the costs of space operations and further accelerate advancements in the industry.
