Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket successfully blasted off into orbit Thursday morning, Jan. 16. The company’s first rocket, powerful enough to launch satellites into space, took off just after 2 a.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
All seven of its engines fired successfully.
Blue Origin marked the mission a success after demonstration technology on board the Blue Ring Pathfinder was safely carried to orbit.
However, the company did not reach its bonus goal of guiding part of the New Glenn rocket back to a safe landing on a platform in the middle of the ocean after takeoff.
It took rival SpaceX four tries to get a similar maneuver right.
Still, Blue Origin stressed its most important goal was for the test satellite to reach orbit. NASA intends to use the New Glenn rocket to launch two orbiters to Mars in the future.
