The Amazon founder’s space company marked a major milestone Thursday with the first test flight of its New Glenn rocket.

Blue Origin has launched its New Shepard rocket—a reusable sub-orbital rocket used for space tourism—27 times. It's named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Bezos flew in New Shepard on July 20, 2021, crossing the Kármán line, the dividing line between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

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.

Bezos’ space company Blue Origin started at about the same time as Musk’s SpaceX but since then Musk’s firm has launched more than 400 of its Falcon 9 rockets into orbit and is testing out its giant Starship rocket which it hopes will send astronauts to the Moon and one day possibly on to Mars.

Watching from Mission Control nearby, Jeff Bezos and company employees broke out in cheers and applause as the New Glenn rocket went orbital - the main objective of Blue Origin's launch.

Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company, launched its large rocket for the first time early Thursday.

Shrugging off bad weather, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched its powerful New Glenn rocket on its maiden flight early Thursday, lighting up a cloudy overnight sky as it climbed away from Cape Canaveral in a high-stakes bid to compete with Elon Musk's industry-leading SpaceX.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is scheduled to launch the NS-29 mission of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle from West Texas on Tuesday, January 28, at 11 a.m. EST. This research flight will simulate the Moon's one-sixth gravity,

The uncrewed New Glenn rocket took off at 2:03 a.m. EST from Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Blue Origin said.

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

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin launches suborbital New Shepard rocket from Texas Blue Origin launches a suborbital New Shepard rocket from Texas without humans aboard, carrying 30 research payloads, including some for moon-related studies.