Blue Origin launches New Glenn rocket

Blue Origin successfully launched its first reusable rocket, New Glenn, into orbit yesterday, but the booster failed to land on a recovery ship.

The rocket marks a key milestone in Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s space exploration journey as he is looking to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. New Glenn was decades in the making and faced several delays before the launch. It also faced a setback in its goal of reusable space technology.

Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Starship nailed a precise booster landing on Thursday during its seventh test flight but fell short of its mission goal when the spacecraft exploded shortly after liftoff.

Starship remains critical to SpaceX’s ambitions, including plans to ferry humans to Mars and support NASA’s Artemis moon exploration programs.