Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spaceflight company has launched a new giant rocket called New Glenn into orbit for the first time.
The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 2:03 a.m. ET on January 16, and crossed the official boundary into space minutes later. Shortly after, a second stage burn sent the top part of the rocket into orbit around Earth.
Although it was the rocket's first launch, a lot went right, and the company said its main goal was to reach orbit safely. However, the rocket's first stage exploded on its way back to Earth as Blue Origin attempted to land that part on a drone ship at sea. The company hopes to launch as early as this spring, and plans up to eight New Glenn launches this year.
“We are extremely proud that New Glenn reached orbit on its first attempt,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, a former Amazon executive, said in a statement. “We knew it was an ambitious goal to land the booster 'So You're Telling Me There's a Chance' on the first try. We learned a lot from today and will be preparing for the next edition this spring.” We will take on the challenge again with the launch. Thank you to everyone at Team Blue for this wonderful milestone.”
The successful launch marks a new era for Blue Origin, which previously carried a rocket (called New Shepard) that was not designed for orbit, limiting its usefulness. Blue Origin needs New Glenn's success to build a robust launch business to compete with 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 designed by Blue Origin. The company had originally hoped to launch the giant rocket as early as 2021, but the expensive 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 by multiple employees of cutting corners on safety.
Blue Origin now hopes to use New Glenn to launch satellites and other spacecraft it is designing for the moon. The company already has contracts with NASA, the Space Force and Amazon's Project Kuiper, among others.
He also hopes to someday send astronauts to the moon as part of NASA's Artemis program. But NASA's focus is constantly changing based on political winds, and Musk, who has close ties to President-elect Donald Trump, has said that “the moon is a distraction.” Bezos told reporters this week that he believes there is room for “multiple winners” in the industry.
