Jeff Bezos’ space company, Blue Origin, just took a major step forward in the space race. Early Thursday morning, their massive New Glenn rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, marking its first-ever mission to orbit. This was a big moment for the company, which has spent years developing the rocket to compete with industry leader SpaceX.
The New Glenn rocket, standing as tall as a 30-story building, roared into the sky around 2 a.m. ET, lighting up the cloudy night. It was the second attempt this week after an earlier launch was called off due to ice buildup. As the rocket climbed higher, cheers erupted from Blue Origin’s headquarters in Kent, Washington, and their rocket factory in Cape Canaveral. Moments later, the company’s vice president Ariane Cornell confirmed the second stage had successfully reached orbit, celebrating the achievement. “We hit our key, critical, number-one objective, we got to orbit safely,” she said. “And y’all, we did it on our first go!”
However, the mission wasn’t entirely flawless. The first stage booster, designed to return and land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, did not make it back safely. Blue Origin lost contact with the booster shortly after liftoff, and Cornell later confirmed, “We did in fact lose the booster.” This was a disappointment, but not a deal-breaker for the mission.
For Jeff Bezos, this launch was a long time coming. He founded Blue Origin 25 years ago, but this was the company’s first mission to orbit after years of delays and billions of dollars in investment. Ahead of the launch, Bezos admitted he was most nervous about the booster landing, though he called it “icing on the cake” compared to the main goal—getting the payload safely into orbit.
Onboard New Glenn was the first prototype of Blue Ring, a maneuverable spacecraft that Blue Origin plans to offer to national security and satellite servicing customers, including the Pentagon. This successful launch now paves the way for future missions, including up to 27 launches for Amazon’s Kuiper satellite network, which aims to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink for global internet coverage.
The launch of New Glenn comes at a time when space exploration is getting more competitive than ever. In recent years, NASA successfully launched its Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and United Launch Alliance introduced the Vulcan rocket, both major additions to the industry. Blue Origin’s New Glenn is set to challenge SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and its next-generation Starship, which aims to revolutionize space travel with its low costs and full reusability.
Despite facing multiple delays and leadership changes, Blue Origin has big ambitions. In late 2023, Bezos took a more active role in the company, pushing for faster progress. He appointed Dave Limp, a former Amazon executive, as CEO, bringing a fresh sense of urgency to the team.
With this first launch behind them, Blue Origin now looks ahead to more missions, learning from their booster loss and refining their technology. The space race is heating up, and this is just the beginning for New Glenn.
