Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launches New Glenn rocket on test flight | Room News

The rocket’s first attempt to launch on Monday was scuttled because ice had accumulated on a propellant line.

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket has blasted off from Florida on its first mission into space, a first step into Earth orbit for Jeff Bezos’ space company.

Thirty stories tall, standing at 98 meters (321.5 ft), with a reusable first stage, New Glenn was launched around week.

The rocket’s first attempt to launch on Monday was scuttled because ice had accumulated on a propellant line.

On Thursday, the company cited no pre-launch issues.

The mission — a decade-long multibillion-dollar project — included a first-stage booster landing in the Atlantic Ocean while the rocket’s second stage continues toward orbit.

Until now, Blue Origin had only used its rockets for suborbital space tourism.

“What we’re most nervous about is the booster landing,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who founded Blue Origin in 2000, told Reuters news agency in a pre-launch interview.

Development of New Glenn has spanned three Blue Origin executives and faced numerous delays as Elon Musk’s SpaceX grew into a juggernaut with its reusable Falcon 9, the world’s most active rocket.