Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin took a major step into the satellite launch market this morning with the successful debut of its New Glenn rocket from Florida.
The highly anticipated flight marks the company's first attempt to challenge SpaceX's dominance in the space industry.
The towering 30-story rocket, designed with a reusable first stage, took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station shortly after 1:35 a.m. ET, following multiple delays earlier in the week.
The launch, which had been previously scrubbed on Monday due to ice buildup on a propellant line, went smoothly this time despite weather challenges and a brief countdown halt caused by a boat straying into a restricted zone.
The New Glenn rocket, powered by a combination of liquid oxygen and methane, aims to compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX by offering reliable and cost-effective satellite launches.
Blue Origin's mission today was not just about the rocket's journey, but also about testing the company's booster recovery capabilities.
Ten minutes after liftoff, New Glenn's first-stage booster was expected to return to Earth, aiming for a precision landing on a sea-faring barge in the Atlantic Ocean, while the second stage of the rocket continued its journey toward orbit.
Unfortunately, the company confirmed that this part of the mission failed, with a Blue Origin spokesperson admitting: 'We lost the booster.'
Inside the rocket's payload bay was a significant piece of Blue Origin's future - the Blue Ring vehicle, a prototype spacecraft designed to be maneuverable in space.
The company plans to sell this vehicle to the U.S. military and commercial customers for satellite servicing and national security operations.
Successfully launching the spacecraft into orbit would be a rare achievement for any space company, especially on their inaugural mission.
Crowds of locals gathered at parks and campgrounds along Florida's east coast, hoping to witness history in the making.
Meanwhile, hundreds of employees from Blue Origin's headquarters in Kent, Washington, and its Florida rocket factory tuned in to the live stream.
A company spokesperson, Ariane Cornell, remarked on the live stream that 'in thrust we trust,' as the company closely monitored the weather conditions before giving the final go-ahead for launch.
Despite earlier forecasts indicating only a 60 percent chance of favorable conditions, the skies cleared enough for a successful launch.
Taking to X after the launch, Dave Limp, Blue Origin CEO, tweeted: 'We did it! Orbital. Great night for Team Blue. On to spring and trying again on the landing.'
Bezos himself also posted an uncaptioned video from the launch.
Meanwhile, his rival, Elon Musk, tweeted: 'Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt! @JeffBezos.'
The launch today represents the culmination of a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar effort to develop the New Glenn rocket and propel Blue Origin into the competitive world of commercial spaceflight.
As the space race heats up, Blue Origin's success could shake up the satellite launch market and set the stage for future missions, including potential collaborations with NASA and private contractors.
This milestone also underscores Jeff Bezos' long-term vision for Blue Origin, one that positions the company as a major player in the rapidly growing space industry.
THE BILLIONAIRE SPACE RACE: HOW BRANSON, MUSK AND BEZOS ARE VYING FOR GALACTIC SUPREMACY
Dubbed the 'NewSpace' set, Jeff Bezos, Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk all say they were inspired by the first moon landing in 1969, when the US beat the Soviet Union in the space race, and there is no doubt how much it would mean to each of them to win the 'new space race'.
Amazon founder Bezos had looked set to be the first of the three to fly to space, having announced plans to launch aboard his space company Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft on July 20, but Branson beat him to the punch.
The British billionaire became Virgin Galactic Astronaut 001 when he made it to space on a suborbital flight nine days before Bezos - on July 11 in a test flight.
Bezos travelled to space on July 20 with his younger brother Mark, Oliver Daemen, an 18-year-old physics student whose dad purchased his ticket, and pioneering female astronaut Wally Funk, 82.
Although SpaceX and Tesla founder Musk has said he wants to go into space, and even 'die on Mars', he has not said when he might blast into orbit - but has purchased a ticket with Virgin Galactic for a suborbital flight.
SpaceX became the first of the 'space tourism' operators to send a fully civilian crew into orbit, with the Inspiration4 mission funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman.
His flight was on a Dragon capsule and SpaceX rocket built by space-obsessed billionaire, Elon Musk and took off for the three day orbital trip on September 16 - going higher than the International Space Station.
SpaceX appears to be leading the way in the broader billionaire space race with numerous launches carrying NASA equipment to the ISS and partnerships to send tourists to space by 2021.
On February 6 2018, SpaceX sent rocket towards the orbit of Mars, 140 million miles away, with Musk's own red Tesla roadster attached.
SpaceX has also taken two groups of astronauts to the |International Space Station, with crew from NASA, ESA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency.
SpaceX has been sending batches of 60 satellites into space to help form its Starlink network, which is already in beta and providing fast internet to rural areas.
Branson and Virgin Galactic are taking a different approach to conquering space. It has repeatedly, and successfully, conducted test flights of the Virgin Galactic's Unity space plane.
The first took place in December 2018 and the latest on May 22, with the flight accelerating to more than 2,000 miles per hour (Mach 2.7).
More than 600 affluent customers to date, including celebrities Brad Pitt and Katy Perry, have reserved a $250,000 (£200,000) seat on one of Virgin's space trips. The final tickets are expected to cost $350,000.
Branson has previously said he expects Elon Musk to win the race to Mars with his private rocket firm SpaceX.
SpaceShipTwo can carry six passengers and two pilots. Each passenger gets the same seating position with two large windows - one to the side and one overhead.
The space ship is 60ft long with a 90inch diameter cabin allowing maximum room for the astronauts to float in zero gravity.
It climbs to 50,000ft before the rocket engine ignites. SpaceShipTwo separates from its carrier craft, White Knight II, once it has passed the 50-mile mark.
Passengers become 'astronauts' when they reach the Karman line, the boundary of Earth's atmosphere.
The spaceship will then make a suborbital journey with approximately six minutes of weightlessness, with the entire flight lasting approximately 1.5 hours.
Bezos revealed in April 2017 that he finances Blue Origin with around $1 billion (£720 million) of Amazon stock each year.
The system consists of a pressurised crew capsule atop a reusable 'New Shepard' booster rocket.
At its peak, the capsule reached 65 miles (104 kilometres), just above the official threshold for space and landed vertically seven minutes after liftoff.
Blue Origin are working on New Glenn, the next generation heavy lift rocket, that will compete with the SpaceX Falcon 9.
