After several delays, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owned Blue Origin on Thursday successfully launched its massive New Glenn rocket, but failed land booster in the Atlantic.
New Glenn's inaugural mission (NG-1) lifted off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, US at 12.33 pm IST.
"LIFTOFF! New Glenn is beginning its first-ever ascent toward the stars," the company said in a post on social media platform X.
"Second stage engine cutoff confirmed. New Glenn's second stage and payload are now in orbit. Another burn coming up," it added.
NG-1 is the first National Security Space Launch certification flight of Blue Origin. It has achieved the main aim of the mission-that is, achieving orbit safely.
"We did it! Orbital. Great night for Team Blue. On to spring and trying again on the landing," Dave Limp, CEO of Blue Origin posted on X while sharing a video of the launch.
On the other hand, Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and founder also took to X and congratulated Jeff Bezos on achieving the feat.
"Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt!," Musk said on X.
Its plan, however, was to land an "ambitious" booster onto a landing platform located in the Atlantic Ocean - which is a first for the company to land outside of shore.
The boost was lost during re-entry into the atmosphere. "We lost the booster," said a Blue Origin spokesperson during the live webcast. New Glenn isn't deploying any satellites today but is carrying a payload — the Blue Ring Pathfinder. It's a test version of the company's new "Blue Ring" spacecraft platform.
The communications will be tested end-to-end on the orbit-ground path, explained Blue Origin while describing a last month mission.
Standing at an impressive 98 meters tall-new Glenn is said to be comparable to a building of 32 stories.
As the biggest rocket ever made or launched, this rocket was also named after astronaut John Glenn in honor of completing three orbits round Earth back in 1962.
The rocket was initially slated to launch in 2020, but faced years of delays.
Blue Origin plans to execute as many as 10 New Glenn launches this year.
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