The successful flight to orbit of the Amazon founder’s powerful rocket suggests it could grow into a credible competitor with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

If New Glenn can continue to demonstrate its capabilities and (more crucially) its reliability, it has the potential to take some business that SpaceX would otherwise struggle to accommodate.

Blue Origin successfully launched the rocket after an attempt earlier in the week was scrubbed. The flight is a crucial test of the company’s ability to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Blue Origin, the US space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos in 2000, made its maiden voyage into orbital space Thursday with its brand-new rocket, New Glenn.

The seven-engine, 320-foot New Glenn rocket — named for late astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the planet — blasted off a NASA launch pad in Florida on its first test flight ...

The name “New Glenn” follows Blue Origin’s pattern of naming rockets after pioneering NASA astronauts from the earliest days of human spaceflight. John Glenn was the first American to orbit ...

Blue Origin successfully launched its two-stage heavy-lift New Glenn rocket on its unmanned maiden voyage into space early Thursday, achieving the mission's primary goal of reaching orbit.

Founded 25 years ago by Bezos, Blue Origin has been launching paying passengers to the edge of space since 2021, including himself. The short hops from Texas use smaller rockets named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. New Glenn, which honors John Glenn, is five times taller.

Blue Origin's successful maiden launch of New Glenn rocket made billionaire Jeff Bezos hungry. He ate breakfast at a Florida diner in Florida after.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux) CAPE CANAVERAL ...

A public hearing on a study of noise from flight operations at John Glenn Columbus International Airport will be held Wednesday.