Jeff Bezos’ giant New Glenn rocket (finally) took off for the first time from Florida

The launch of the Blue Origin rocket had been postponed several times, and even canceled on Monday.

The American space company Blue Origin launched its large New Glenn rocket for the first time on Thursday January 16. This inaugural flight is a turning point for the company of Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, which intends to catch up with SpaceX. 98 m high, the size of a building of approximately 30 floors, New Glenn successfully took off from the Cape Canaveral space base in Florida, despite weather conditions that were not optimal.

The maiden flight of this powerful rocket has been anticipated for years and has been postponed several times. It was even canceled at the last minute on Monday due to a technical problem. If the mission goes as planned, New Glenn is expected to reach orbit, which would be a first for the private space company founded in 2000.

Although the company has already been taking tourists for a few minutes into space with its New Shepard rocket for several years, it has not yet carried out any orbital flights. With New Glenn, it aims to enter a new market, that of launching commercial and military satellites, but also ships and astronauts.