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Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully launches SpaceX rival

Jeff Bezos prepares to take on Elon Musk in space,

At 2:03AM ET on Thursday morning, New Glenn’s seven reusable BE-4 engines ignited to propelled the NG-1 rocket into space, with the second stage and payload reaching medium Earth orbit to achieve Blue Origin’s primary mission goal. In parallel, the first stage booster — dubbed, “So You’re Telling Me There’s A Chance” — autonomously descended to its landing platform located several hundred miles downrange in the Atlantic. The first of these 3,236 Project Kuiper satellites are expected to launch into low Earth orbit soon, aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket before New Glenn can take over the heavy lifting.

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