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Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Finally Reaches Orbit With New Glenn Rocket

Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Miguel J. Rodríguez Carrillo/Getty Images

With its seven engines roaring to life, Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 36 at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early this morning (Jan. 16). The mission represents Blue Origin's first entry into orbit—a major milestone for Jeff Bezos' space venture as it tries to make progress in a field currently dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

“Today marks a new era for Blue Origin and the commercial space,” said Jarrett Jones, senior vice president of Blue Origin's New Glenn project, in a statement where he signed off on what will come of the 320-foot-tall rocket. “We are focused on increasing our rate of delivery and production levels.”

As it flew over the Atlantic Ocean, the rocket's booster successfully separated from its upper stage, which then detonated its engine and entered orbit about 13 minutes after liftoff. It carries a replica of Blue Origin's Blue Ring vehicle—intended to eventually capture satellites—and is expected to spend six hours in space before it recedes and burns up in space.

Although the main goal of today's mission was to reach orbit, Blue Origin also tried to complete the second mission of landing its booster on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean. Shortly after the two-stage rocket separated, however, Blue Origin lost its booster as it re-entered space. The successful return of the booster from the first launch of New Glenn was always considered an overly ambitious goal, as evidenced by the booster's nickname, “So You're Telling Me There's a Chance.”

The competition of Blue Origin and SpaceX

The first mission of New Glenn escalated the ongoing space race between Blue Origin and SpaceX, founded respectively by two of the world's richest people. Bezos is currently worth an estimated $237 billion, while Musk's fortune stands at $428.5 billion.

As of today, Blue Origin has yet to launch a rocket into orbit. Another of its rockets, the New Shepard, carried astronauts into space. SpaceX, on the other hand, is making a staggering 134 orbital launches in 2024 alone. Blue Origin also intends to eventually use New Glenn rockets to send the Blue Moon Mark 1 lunar lander to the Moon, a mission expected to launch in 2025. SpaceX is not expected to see the lunar variant of its Starship spacecraft reach the Moon until next time. a year.

In late 2023, Bezos tapped Dave Limp, a former Amazon (AMZN) executive, to lead Blue Origin. The space business “has been kind of an R&D division for a long time,” Limp told CNBC in October, adding that changing this direction is a key aspect of his vision for the company.

Bezos, too, called for faster progress. His decision to leave the position of CEO of Amazon in 2021 was strongly influenced by the need to focus on Blue Origin, he told the broadcaster Lex Fridman in December 2023. power, a certain sense of urgency,” said the billionaire. “We need to move very quickly. And we will.”

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Finally Reaches Orbital Milestone




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