“Blue Origin’s Stellar Success: Jeff Bezos’ Quest for the Cosmos Takes Flight!”

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket ascends from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday.

John Raoux/AP

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John Raoux/AP

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin successfully launched its monumental new rocket on its inaugural test flight Thursday, deploying a prototype satellite into orbit thousands of miles above our planet.

Named in honor of the first American to orbit the Earth, the New Glenn rocket took flight from Florida, ascending from the very launch pad used to send NASA’s Mariner and Pioneer spacecraft into space half a century prior.

Years in development with substantial financing from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, the 320-foot (98-meter) rocket accommodated an experimental platform designed for hosting or deploying satellites into their designated orbits.

All seven primary engines ignited at liftoff as the rocket illuminated the dawn sky, thrilling bystanders who filled the neighboring beaches. Bezos participated in the proceedings from Mission Control, and Blue Origin personnel celebrated with cheers after the vehicle successfully achieved orbit 13 minutes later, a milestone that earned commendation from SpaceX’s Elon Musk.

The first-stage booster failed to land on a barge in the Atlantic, however, the company highlighted that the more critical objective was attained. Prior to the flight, Bezos remarked that it was “a bit ambitious” to even attempt to land the booster on the initial attempt.

“We accomplished it!” Blue Origin’s CEO Dave Limp stated via X in reference to achieving orbit. “Onward to spring and attempting the landing again.”

For this trial, the satellite was intended to stay within the second stage while orbiting the Earth. Plans indicated that the second stage would be placed in a secure state to maintain a high, less trafficked orbit, in line with NASA’s guidelines for reducing space debris.

New Glenn was slated to launch before dawn on Monday, yet freezing conditions on essential systems caused a postponement. The rocket is engineered to transport spacecraft and ultimately astronauts into orbit as well as to the moon.

Established 25 years ago by Bezos, Blue Origin has been ferrying paying passengers to the edge of space since 2021, including himself. The brief flights from Texas utilize smaller rockets named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. New Glenn, which pays tribute to John Glenn, is five times taller.

Blue Origin invested over $1 billion into the launch site for New Glenn, renovating the historic Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch pad is situated 9 miles from the company’s control centers and rocket factory, positioned outside the gates of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

Blue Origin envisions conducting six to eight New Glenn flights this year, with the subsequent one scheduled for this spring.

In a recent interview over the weekend, Bezos opted not to reveal his personal contribution to the program. He stated that he does not consider Blue Origin as competition with Musk’s SpaceX, which has dominated rocket launches for a long time.

“There is ample room for multiple success stories,” Bezos indicated, adding that this marks the “very, very beginning of a new era in space, where we will all collaborate as an industry … to decrease the cost of access to space.”

New Glenn is the latest in a series of large, new rockets to debut in recent years, including United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan, Europe’s enhanced Ariane 6, and NASA’s Space Launch System or SLS, the space agency’s successor to the Saturn V for facilitating astronaut missions to the moon.

The largest rocket overall, standing at about 400 feet, is SpaceX’s Starship. Musk noted that the seventh test flight of the entire rocket may take place later Thursday from Texas. He aims to replicate his achievement from October, where he caught the returning booster at the launch pad using massive mechanical arms.

Starship is what NASA intends to employ to land astronauts on the moon within this decade. The first two lunar landings as part of the space agency’s Artemis program, following the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, will allow crews to descend from lunar orbit to the surface in Starships.

Blue Origin’s lunar vehicle, called Blue Moon, is set to make its debut on the third lunar landing mission by astronauts.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson advocated for competing moon landers, mirroring the strategy of selecting two companies to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Nelson is set to resign when President-elect Donald Trump assumes office on Monday.

Trump has appointed tech tycoon Jared Isaacman to lead NASA. Isaacman, who has journeyed into orbit twice through his privately funded SpaceX missions, requires Senate approval.

New Glenn’s initial flight was intended to dispatch twin spacecraft to Mars for NASA. However, the space agency withdrew them from the planned launch last October when it became apparent that the rocket would not be ready in time. They will still be launched aboard a New Glenn rocket, but not before spring at the earliest. These two compact crafts, known as Escapade, aim to investigate the Martian atmosphere and magnetic field while orbiting the red planet.