The launch of the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket marks a new step in the race for Space disputed by Bezos and Musk.
The maiden flight of New Glenn, the new cargo rocket from Blue Origin, the space company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, was successful.
The launch took place this morning in Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States, after being postponed three times due to adverse weather conditions.
New Glenn is 98 meters high and can carry up to 45 tons. It was designed to reach low Earth orbit and land on a platform in the Atlantic Ocean.
The objective will be to compete with the ‘reusable’ rockets from Space X, Elon Musk’s company – capable of transporting large amounts of cargo into space and returning to Earth intact – and so enter the commercial and military satellite launch market.
New Glenn should be capable of carrying up to 45 tons into low-Earth orbit, more than double the capacity of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 but less than the Falcon Heavy, first launched in 2018.
Aboard the rocket will be a prototype spacecraft designed to carry out operations in space and move satellites into their final orbits. The operation of this tug will be tested during the mission, which is expected to last six hours.
Blue Origin has been flying tourists into space for a few minutes on the New Shepard rocket for several years, but it has never flown into Earth orbit.
