Blue Origin, the space technology company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, launched its New Glenn rocket for the first time on Jan. 15, sending a prototype satellite into orbit thousands of miles above Earth.
Named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, the 320-foot-tall, two-stage rocket blasted off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:03 a.m. ET under cloudy skies.
The culmination of a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar development journey, the rocket is fitted with a reusable first-stage booster filled with liquid oxygen and methane.
Secured inside its payload bay is the prototype of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring vehicle, a maneuverable spacecraft that the company hopes to sell to the Pentagon and commercial customers for satellite servicing missions.
“Anything beyond that is icing on the cake,” the company said. “No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch.”
The second stage engine cutoff was then confirmed.
Locals on Florida’s east coast also cheered from parks and campsites several miles from the launchpad upon liftoff.
Blue Origin’s Vice President of In-Space Systems Ariane Cornell said, “We hit our key, critical, number-one objective, we got to orbit safely. And y'all we did it on our first go.”
The rocket’s reusable first-stage booster was scheduled to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean after separating from its second stage, but it failed to do so, Cornell confirmed. Telemetry from the booster blacked out minutes after liftoff.
“We did in fact lose the booster,” Cornell said.
At the time, the company said that ice had accumulated on a propellant line and that it was working to troubleshoot the issue ahead of the next attempt.
Blue Origin’s successful launch of the New Glenn marks an important step for Bezos’s space company, which was founded in 2000 and aims to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the satellite launch business.
SpaceX has launched both satellites and humans into space using its Falcon 9 rocket and other spacecraft.