Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin successfully launched its New Glenn rocket into orbit early Thursday on its first attempt, 25 years after the Amazon founder started the space company. The 320-foot rocket's payload, Blue Ring, is a spacecraft designed to move satellites to different orbits.
The launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, demonstrated the company's viability amid years of industry dominance by Elon Musk's SpaceX and its workhorse Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets (see comparison). The seven-engine, two-stage, partially reusable New Glenn rocket is designed to launch spacecraft into orbit and is contracted with NASA to launch a lunar lander as part of the third Artemis mission in 2027. Up to eight more New Glenn launches are anticipated this year. See photos here and a video of the launch here.
Elsewhere in space, astronaut Suni Williams conducted her first spacewalk during her current mission, seven months after being stranded on the International Space Station following the malfunction of the Boeing Starliner vehicle.
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