Blue Origin has launched its New Shepard rocket—a reusable sub-orbital rocket used for space tourism—27 times. It's named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. Bezos flew in New Shepard on July 20, 2021, crossing the Kármán line, the dividing line between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

Privately owned Blue Origin has achieved its goal—a decade in the making—of becoming an orbital launch player, even as it failed to recover its first-stage booster in the ambitious inaugural flight of its New Glenn rocket on its NG-1 mission.

Once in orbit, the upper stage released the Blue Ring Pathfinder: a small prototype spacecraft designed to host and transport satellites between orbits, refuel visiting spacecraft, and perform computing and communications from space. According to Blue Origin, Blue Ring is “receiving data and performing well.”