Blue Origin’s New Glenn reaches orbit on its maiden flight, Elon Musk congratulates Jeff Bezos

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, congratulated Jeff Bezos on the successful debut flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which reached orbit on its maiden attempt. Musk expressed his appreciation for the achievement on X (formerly known as Twitter), posting, “Congrats on reaching orbit on the first try! @JeffBezos.”

This milestone marks a significant achievement for Blue Origin, the space exploration company founded by Bezos. Sharing the news on its official X account, Blue Origin confirmed, “Second stage engine cutoff confirmed. New Glenn’s payload and second stage are now in orbit. Another burn is coming up…”

On Thursday, Blue Origin successfully launched its massive New Glenn rocket on its maiden test flight, sending a prototype satellite into orbit thousands of miles above Earth. The towering 320-foot rocket, named in honor of John Glenn—the first American to orbit the Earth—lifted off from Florida’s historic launch pad, which once supported NASA’s Mariner and Pioneer missions more than half a century ago.

After years of development and substantial investment by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, New Glenn carried an experimental platform designed for satellite hosting and precise orbital deployment. The moment the spacecraft reached orbit was met with cheers and applause from Blue Origin’s team, celebrating the culmination of years of effort.

During this mission, the test satellite remained inside the rocket’s second stage while orbiting Earth. The planned six-hour mission concluded with the second stage being placed in a high orbit, adhering to NASA’s space debris mitigation guidelines.

While the rocket’s first-stage booster failed to land on a barge in the Atlantic, rendering it unrecoverable, Blue Origin emphasized that the mission’s primary objective was successfully achieved: delivering the satellite to orbit. Blue Origin’s launch commentator, Ariane Cornell, remarked, “What a fantastic day.”

Originally slated for launch earlier in the week, the mission faced a delay due to ice buildup in critical systems. Designed to carry payloads and, eventually, astronauts to orbit and beyond, New Glenn represents a significant leap forward in space exploration capabilities.

Founded by Bezos 25 years ago, Blue Origin began launching paying passengers on suborbital flights in 2021, including Bezos himself aboard the smaller New Shepard rocket. By comparison, New Glenn—named after astronaut John Glenn—stands five times taller and is designed for far more ambitious missions, solidifying Blue Origin’s position in the competitive space industry.