Blue Origin scored a major win with its New Glenn rocket launch, but SpaceX still leads the space industry with a Falcon fleet and upcoming Starship.

Blue Origin's New Glenn successfully reached orbit on its first-ever flight, putting it in competition with SpaceX for heavy-lift missions.

Florida’s sky briefly lit up during the night as one of a handful of big new American-made rockets took flight. It was the first time a new space company achieved orbit on the first launch attempt.

The company said it was "reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt."

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin on Monday called off its inaugural launch of its New Glenn rocket after a number of last-minute issues – hurting the space firm in its race to compete with Elon Musk’s dominant SpaceX. The 320-foot rocket was scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral in Florida at 1 a.m. ET before the launch was aborted.

EDT Thursday, Jan. Blue Origin, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, launched its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral

The first-ever launch of the New Glenn represents a major milestone for the Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, whose Blue Origin spaceflight company has now officially entered the orbital launch market and heavy-lift space industry, setting it up to compete with the likes of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Founded 25 years ago by Bezos, Blue Origin has been launching paying passengers to the edge of space since 2021, including himself. The short hops from Texas use smaller rockets named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. New Glenn, which honors John Glenn, is five times taller.

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Blue Origin's successful maiden launch of New Glenn rocket made billionaire Jeff Bezos hungry. He ate breakfast at a Space Coast diner in Florida after

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket, named after astronaut John Glenn, from Florida's historic pad. The test flight mar