Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk extended his congratulations to rival Jeff Bezos after Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully reached orbit on its debut flight. Taking to X, Musk wrote, “Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt! @JeffBezos.”
The historic achievement marks a significant milestone for Bezos’s space exploration company, Blue Origin. The company confirmed the success via its X account, stating, “Second stage engine cutoff confirmed. New Glenn’s second stage and payload are now in orbit. Another burn coming up…”
Blue Origin successfully launched its colossal new rocket on its maiden test flight Thursday, carrying a prototype satellite into orbit thousands of miles above Earth.
The rocket, named New Glenn after the first American to orbit the planet, lifted off from Florida, taking flight from the historic pad that once launched NASA’s Mariner and Pioneer missions over 50 years ago.
Developed over several years with substantial funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the 320-foot (98-meter) rocket transported an experimental platform designed for hosting satellites or deploying them into precise orbits. Excited cheers and applause erupted among company staff as the spacecraft successfully reached orbit.
During this test, the satellite was intended to stay within the second stage while orbiting Earth. The mission was planned to last six hours, after which the second stage would be safely positioned in a high orbit, following NASA’s guidelines to reduce space debris.
The first-stage booster failed to land on a barge in the Atlantic shortly after launch, preventing it from being reused, but Blue Origin emphasized that the primary goal was for the test satellite to reach orbit. “What a fantastic day,” exclaimed Ariane Cornell, Blue Origin’s launch commentator.
New Glenn was originally scheduled for a pre-dawn launch on Monday, but ice accumulation in key plumbing caused a delay. Designed to carry both spacecraft and, eventually, astronauts to orbit and the Moon, the rocket represents a significant advancement.
Founded by Jeff Bezos 25 years ago, Blue Origin has been launching paying passengers to the edge of space since 2021, including Bezos himself. These brief trips from Texas are made with smaller rockets named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. In comparison, New Glenn, named after John Glenn, is five times taller.
