A static fire test of the New Glenn rocket, which involved unauthorized use of a deluge system, cost the company $3,250.

Blue Origin hopes New Glenn will make it safely to orbit for the inaugural test flight of a rocket that could rival those in Elon Musk's SpaceX fleet.

Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon magnate Jeff Bezos, is preparing to launch its inaugural orbital rocket, New Glenn, next week. This milestone is also expected to escalate the rivalry between Bezos,

Blue Origin said on Monday that it is looking to launch its New Glenn rocket for the first time to orbit no earlier than Jan. 10, Friday.

US space company Blue Origin is now aiming to launch its first orbital rocket on Sunday, it announced on X, because of rough seas in the Atlantic where it hopes to land the first stage booster on a ship.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's company Blue Origin is poised to launch its first orbital rocket next week, marking a pivotal moment in the commercial space race currently dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Standing 98 meters tall, the New Glenn rocket can transport up to 45 tons to low Earth orbit, more than double SpaceX's Falcon 9 capacity of 23 tons but less than the Falcon Heavy's 63.8 tons.

NASA announced Tuesday it may turn to Elon Musk's SpaceX or Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin to help reduce the soaring costs of returning Martian rocks collected by the Perseverance rover

For example, he has rarely criticized NASA or its overall goal to return humans to the Moon through the Artemis Program. Rather, Musk, who has long preferred Mars as a destination for humans, has more or less been a team player when it comes to the space agency's lunar-focused plans.

Jeff Bezos is preparing to launch a satellite broadband service in Britain in a boost to his challenge to rival space rocket billionaire Elon Musk.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is calling for NASA to ditch its Moon program, arguing that the "Moon is a distraction" and that "we're going straight to Mars" instead in a recent tweet. In a separate tweet on Christmas Day,