Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket has lifted off from Florida and entered orbit for the first time.
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Briefing
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket has lifted off from Florida and entered orbit for the first time.
However, the booster rocket, designed to land on a platform in the Atlantic so it could be reused, did not land.
The rocket, New Glenn, is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.
Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, wants his company to become a rival to Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Direct report[/b]
Journalist specializing in climate and science
It's emotional to see a rocket lift off - years of hard work and aspiration go into getting these massive machines off a launch pad and into orbit.
And whatever your opinion on the merits of spending billions of dollars on space exploration, it is a spectacular feat of engineering.
Blue Origin will be pleased to have achieved its primary goal of sending New Glenn into orbit for the first time.
He failed to land his booster on the landing pad, but that was a "plus" and not a critical part of this mission.
She challenges Jeff Bezos' rival, Elon Musk, as the two men battle for dominance in space. The two companies are competing to see who has the biggest and most powerful rocket. Bezos is still behind in the race, but this is a big step forward for him.
"We're just getting started," a Blue Origin spokeswoman said as she disconnected from the live stream.
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