Blue Origin, the rocket company Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos founded, notched one of the most substantial successes in its history on Thursday: sending a rocket to orbit.

Blue Origin has shared a video recap of last week's maiden launch of the New Glenn, including dramatic close-up footage of the rocket leaving the launchpad. The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inb

Shrugging off bad weather, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched its powerful New Glenn rocket on its maiden flight early Thursday, lighting up a cloudy overnight sky as it climbed away from Cape Canaveral in a high-stakes bid to compete with Elon Musk's industry-leading SpaceX.

Blue Origin officials hope to send their heavy-lift New Glenn rocket on its unmanned maiden voyage into space after 1 a.m. EST, with the mission's goal being to reach orbit before returning to Earth.

Blue Origin will try, try again to launch its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket to orbit for the first time — if the Florida weather cooperates.

New Glenn lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida just after 2 a.m., carrying a payload for the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit.

Founded 25 years ago by Bezos, Blue Origin has been launching paying passengers to the edge of space since 2021, including himself. The short hops from Texas use smaller rockets named after the first American in space, Alan Shepard. New Glenn, which honors John Glenn, is five times taller.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard tests lunar tech in simulated gravity on a Texas flight Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin prepares for the 29th flight of its New Shepard rocket, set to launch from Launch Site One in West Texas.