The first new Glenn rocket reached orbit

Blue Origin launched the New Glenn rocket for the first time on Thursday, marking a milestone for Jeff Bezos’ space company.

New Glenn blasted off the launch pad in the wee hours of the morning in Florida, reaching space and finally orbiting as part of its long-awaited first mission. Blue Origin also attempted to land the rocket booster on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, but the booster was lost as it entered the atmosphere.

The launch is a critical time for the Blue Origin.

Although it was founded 25 years ago, Bezos’s company has yet to fly into orbit – with the tiny new Shepard rocket that only carries humans and research to the edge of space on short jaunts. The New Glenn flight marks Blue Origin’s entry into a market dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and is critical to unlocking the centenarian founder’s ambitious ambitions.

No one was aboard the New Glenn flight, which carried a small test payload into space. The rocket was named in honor of the late John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

First, the company wanted NASA’s “ESCAPADE” flying adventure. New Glenn’s first mission to Mars. But with the launch window dwindling, the agency delayed ESCAPADE to a later date. Blue origin also has commands AmazonProject Kuiper plans to launch at least 12 Internet satellites, as well as launch the Blue Moon lunar and orbital reef space station. Bezos founded Amazon 6 years before Blue Origin.

Headquartered in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington, Blue Origin has more than 10,000 employees there and in half a dozen other major locations around the country, including industrial strongholds in Texas, Florida and Alabama. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp previously told CNBC that Blue Origin has been “in R&D for a long time,” an aspect of the company’s culture it’s trying to change.

Blue plans to rapidly scale New Glenn’s missions, looking to build up to 10 New Glenn jobs this year. The rocket, originally targeted for a 2020 launch, has faced years of delays.

A few minutes after launch, the rocket’s booster separated and reentered the atmosphere. The booster – nicknamed “They’re Telling Me There’s a Chance” – was trying to land on the company’s yacht Jacklin, 600 miles offshore in the Atlantic Ocean, but fell short. The Blue Origin website last showed the boost at 84,000 feet.

Although New Glenn does not have any satellites in orbit, it does contain a small display of the company’s “Blue Ring” spacecraft. Known in the industry as an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) or Space Tug, the Blue Ring is designed to handle satellites and spacecraft and transport them from the rocket to their intended target.

As usual for an orbital rocket, New Glenn’s first launch had some bumps in the road, with delays of several days due to technical problems with the rocket and weather.

In the industry table of orbital missions so far, Blue Origin has not entered the serious rocket game, as the US launch market is dominated by SpaceX, which subsequently Rocket LabUnited Launch Alliance and Firefly Aerospace.

Jeff, Welcome to the club.