The company is hailing it as an "incredible milestone."
Mixed Success
After many delays and scrubs, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket into orbit early Thursday morning during its first launch attempt.
The company's rocket, which is 90 feet taller and can produce roughly twice as much thrust at liftoff as SpaceX's Falcon 9, launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
It's a momentous occasion for the private space industry, which has been dominated by SpaceX's reusable rockets for many years. With a flightworthy orbital rocket, Blue Origin could finally offer up some competition, setting the stage for a busy launch schedule in the coming years.
New Glenn's first stage, however, missed the target upon its return, dropping into the ocean instead of landing on Blue Origin's raft, a feat that SpaceX has perfected over the years after many missed attempts.
"I’m incredibly proud New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt," said CEO Dave Limp in a statement. "We knew landing our booster, 'So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance,' on the first try was an ambitious goal."
"We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring," he added. "Thank you to all of Team Blue for this incredible milestone."
New Glenn safely reached its intended orbit during today's NG-1 mission, accomplishing our primary objective. The second stage is in its final orbit following two successful burns of the BE-3U engines. The Blue Ring Pathfinder is receiving data and performing well.
We lost the… pic.twitter.com/MmDlCb6AVj
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 16, 2025
First Try
The company is hoping to make low Earth orbit more accessible to its partners with its new rocket. New Glenn has very little in common with its much smaller predecessor, New Shepard, which Blue Origin has been using to send wealthy space tourists to the Earth's upper atmosphere since July 2021.
This week's launch has been a long time coming. The company has been working on the rocket for well over a decade, encountering many setbacks and technical problems along the way.
The timing of the successful launch is particularly noteworthy. President-elect Donald Trump, who has established an extremely close relationship with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, is about to be sworn in just four days from now. NASA's incoming administrator also has deep ties to Musk's space company, which could turn out to be a major hurdle for Blue Origin.
More on the rocket: After Over 10 Years, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Is Finally About to Launch Its First Falcon 9-Style Rocket
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