Blue Origin conducts 1st test flight of massive rocket

What happened

Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, conducted the first test flight of its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket Thursday morning. The uncrewed flight, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, was mostly a success, though the reusable first-stage rocket booster failed to land on a barge, as planned.

Who said what

New Glenn, named after astronaut John Glenn, is Blue Origin's first rocket to reach space. Founded 25 years ago, the company has previously sent space tourists to near orbit in its one-engine New Shepard rockets. New Glenn is a "far more powerful vehicle," designed to "compete against SpaceX" and other commercial rocket companies, The Washington Post said. Blue Origin has contracts lined up to launch satellites into space and, if it can meet safety and reliability benchmarks, carry NASA astronauts to the Moon.

SpaceX, which got its first rocket into orbit in 2008, dominates the commercial launch market. CEO Elon Musk congratulated Bezos on social media for "reaching orbit on the first attempt." Reaching orbit safely was the "key objective" of today's New Glenn launch, Blue Origin VP Ariane Cornell said. "Anything beyond that is a bonus."

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What next?

Blue Origin "envisions six to eight New Glenn flights this year," with the next this spring, The Associated Press said. SpaceX plans to conduct the seventh test of its 400-foot-tall Starship rocket later today.