Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket makes historic first launch, eyes space race victory

In a bold move to challenge SpaceX’s dominance in the space industry, Blue Origin, the aerospace company founded by Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos, has successfully launched its much-anticipated New Glenn heavy-lift rocket.

The launch, which took place from Cape Canaveral, Florida, was streamed live on Blue Origin’s website, marking a milestone in the company’s pursuit of space exploration dominance, Caliber.Az reports via US media.

The launch occurred at 02:03 AM EST, after being delayed several times, including a weather-related cancellation on January 10. Despite these setbacks, Blue Origin finally saw its dream take flight. The rocket carried specialized equipment designed to monitor flight parameters, providing valuable data for the company’s future space missions.

A key feature of this launch is the New Glenn rocket’s reusable first stage. After approximately 10 minutes in flight, the first stage is expected to return to Earth, landing on the floating platform "Jacklyn" in the Atlantic Ocean. This platform is named in honour of Bezos’ mother. The reusable design aims to significantly cut costs by allowing the first stage to be used up to 25 times. Blue Origin also hopes to achieve a major feat with this flight — the cargo module is expected to reach Earth orbit on its very first test.

While Bezos celebrates this monumental achievement, SpaceX’s Elon Musk offered his congratulations to the Amazon founder. “Congratulations to Jeff Bezos on reaching orbit on the first try,” Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The New Glenn rocket, named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth in 1962, is a towering 98 meters tall and 7 meters in diameter. First announced in 2015, it is designed to carry a heavy payload, with future missions expected to deliver up to 45 tonnes of cargo to low-Earth orbit and 13 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit.

With this successful launch, Blue Origin enters the space race with its sights set on reshaping the future of commercial space travel and exploration.

By Tamilla Hasanova