Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin joined the billionaire’s space race in earnest when its New Glenn rocket roared from a launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center in the early morning hours of Jan. 16. The second stage with the Blue Ring payload successfully reached orbit. However, an attempt to land the first stage on a drone ship failed.

Blue Origin's New Glenn finally roared into orbit in the early hours of Thursday, with SpaceX's Starship rocket set to launch hours later.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's space company has blasted its first rocket into orbit in a bid to challenge the dominance of Elon Musk's SpaceX. The New Glenn rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 02:02 local time (07:02 GMT).

One of the key questions about Blue Origin is whether it will push toward full reusability with New Glenn. In 2021, Ars first reported on an effort codenamed "Project Jarvis" to develop a stainless steel upper stage that could be reused. The company even built a test tank, although the effort was eventually shelved.

The successful flight to orbit of the Amazon founder’s powerful rocket suggests it could grow into a credible competitor with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Elon Musk congratulated Jeff Bezos following Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully reaching orbit on its first flight, expressing his admiration on social media.

Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world, successfully blasted off a 320-foot-tall rocket ship made by his Blue Origin company from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early hours of the morning. It made the company the first to successfully reach orbit on its first launch of an orbital-class rocket.

Granted, Blue Origin poses an even bigger threat to Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Boeing (NYSE: BA) and their United Launch Alliance (ULA) joint venture, which charges $110 million for Vulcan rocket launches. Airbus ' (OTC: EADSY) Arianespace charges $77 million for an Ariane 62 launch, and is probably worried, too.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk congratulated his rival Jeff Bezos on the successful maiden test-launch of his heavy-lift rocket New Glenn on Thursday.

A milestone moment for Blue Origin as New Glenn achieves orbital success, earning accolades from rival Elon Musk.

Tesla CEO and Amazon founder vie for dominance of satellite launch market and could influence Nasa plans to return to Moon

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully launched its reusable rocket, New Glenn, on January 16 from Florida. The rocket has an experimental platform designed to host satellites or deploy them into their correct orbits.