Bezos’ Blue Origin launches new Glenn Rocket for the first time

On By Littum

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Blue Origin, the space company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, launched its big rocket for the first time early Thursday.
  • After several delayed launches, the 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket exploded from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:03 ET and reached orbit.
  • Billionaire rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX has more than 400 total launches, according to its website.

Blue Origin, Amazon’s ( AMZN ) founder Jeff Bezos’ space company, launched its big rocket for the first time early Thursday.

After several delayed launches, the 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket exploded from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 02:03 ET and reached orbit. However, Blue Origin lost the booster during the descent towards a platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

“The vehicle supports our efforts to establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, harness resources in space, provide multi-mission, multi-orbit mobility through the Blue Ring and establish destinations in low Earth orbit,” Blue Origin said.

In contrast, rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX has more than 400 total launches, according to its website.

The billionaires are competing to dominate the commercial space race.