Mixed Success After many delays and scrubs, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has successfully launched its New Glenn rocket into orbit early Thursday morning. The company's rocket, which is 90 feet taller and can produce roughly twice as much thrust at liftoff than SpaceX's Falcon 9,

However, during the landing attempt, communication with the booster was lost. Blue Origin confirmed that the booster exploded during the landing phase. Despite the booster loss, the successful deployment of the payload represents a crucial step forward for New Glenn and Blue Origin.

Blue Origin's New Glenn successfully reached orbit on its first-ever flight, putting it in competition with SpaceX for heavy-lift missions.

Rough seas caused Blue Origin to hold off a planned early Friday launch attempt with is debut of New Glenn, which is now targeting early Sunday instead. SpaceX, though, managed liftoff later Friday with a booster flying for a record 25th time.

The uncrewed New Glenn rocket took off at 2:03 a.m. EST from Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Blue Origin said.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched its first New Glenn rocket early Thursday morning from Florida, an inaugural step into Earth's orbit to rival SpaceX in the satellite launch market. (Reporting by Joey Roulette;

Florida’s sky briefly lit up during the night as one of a handful of big new American-made rockets took flight. It was the first time a new space company achieved orbit on the first launch attempt.