Blue Origin successfully launches the New Glenn rocket into space

Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin launched its new mega rocket, called New Glenn, into orbit for the first time.

The rocket lifted off at 02:03 ET on January 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and crossed the official line into space a few minutes later. Soon after, a second stage burn placed the rocket’s upper section into Earth orbit.

While it was the rocket’s first launch, a number of things went right, and the company had said its main objective was to reach orbit safely. But the rocket’s first stage exploded on its way back down to Earth when Blue Origin tried to land that section on a drone ship at sea. The company hopes to launch again this spring and is planning as many as eight New Glenn will be launched this year.

“I am incredibly proud that New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt,” Dave Limp, former Amazon executive and CEO of Blue Origin, said in a statement. “We knew it was an ambitious goal to land our booster, ‘So you’re telling me there’s a chance’ on the first try. We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch in the spring. Thanks to all Team Blue for this incredible milestone.”

The successful launch starts a new era for Blue Origin, which until now has been stuck with a rocket (called New Shepard) that was not designed to go into orbit, limiting its usefulness. Blue Origin needs New Glenn to succeed in order to build a solid launch business to take on Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has dominated the industry in recent years.

First unveiled in 2016, New Glenn is 320 feet tall and powered by seven BE-4 engines, which Blue Origin also designed. The company had initially hoped to be able to launch the mega-rocket as early as 2021. But the costly development process took longer than expected. Along the way, Blue Origin spent time in legal battles with NASA and SpaceX over launch contracts and was accused of cutting the safety of several employees.

Blue Origin now hopes to use New Glenn to launch satellites and other spacecraft, including those it is designing for the Moon. The company already has contracts with NASA, the Space Force, Amazon’s Project Kuiper and others.

It also hopes to one day send astronauts to the Moon as part of NASA’s Artemis project. That said, NASA’s focus always shifts with the political winds, and Musk — who has forged a deep relationship with President-elect Donald Trump — has said “The moon is a distraction.” Bezos told the press this week that he believes there is room for “more winners” in the industry.