Jeff Bezos' 24-year-old space technology company Blue Origin sent its first rocket into orbit Thursday morning at Florida's Space Coast.
The 320-foot-long rocket was named New Glenn John GlennThe first American to orbit the Earth. It was taller than the Statue of Liberty and powered by seven engines. According to New York TimesNew Glenn lifted off at 2:03 a.m. from Cape Canaveral in Florida and reached orbit about 13 minutes later.
The flight was the first for Blue Origin. The company considered it a great success, writing in a post on X on Thursday that she was “thrilled with today's result.” although DELAYS due to system issues pushing the flight day from Monday to Thursday, the eventual launch positioned Blue Origin to better compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX, which launched 134 times in the year 2024.
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Blue origin stated in a post on X that the purpose of the flight was to reach orbit.
“This is our first flight and we have been rigorously preparing for it,” the company wrote, adding that anything beyond reaching orbit was “the icing on the cake.”
To reiterate our objectives – this is our first flight and we have rigorously prepared for it. But no amount of ground testing or mission simulations is a substitute for flying this missile. Our main objective today is to reach safe orbit. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake… pic.twitter.com/LSt0GoZXkj
— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) January 16, 2025
Bezos posted multiple video at X of departure.
– Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 16, 2025
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) January 16, 2025
Blue Origin had a stretch goal of landing the rocket's reusable first-stage booster on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, but was unable to achieve that goal after the booster was lost during re-entry.
“We lost the booster during descent,” Blue Origin said another X post. We knew landing the first stage in the first test was ambitious. We will learn, refine and apply this knowledge to our next launch in the spring.”
Blue Origin hopes to do more releases this year. New Glenn is reusable, and the engines and thrusters supporting its first flight stage are designed for at least 25 flights, according to Blue Origin website.
Related: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin aims to build a massive commercial space station