CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Blue Origin launched its massive new rocket on its first test flight Thursday, placing a prototype satellite into orbit thousands of miles above Earth.

The New Glenn rocket, named for the first American to orbit Earth, blasted off from Florida from the same launch pad used to launch NASA's Mariner and Pioneer spacecraft half a century ago.

The 320-foot (98-meter) rocket, which took several years to build with significant funding from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, carries an experimental platform designed to carry satellites or Release it to the appropriate track.

All seven main engines fired on liftoff as the rocket glowed in the predawn sky, to the delight of spectators on a nearby beach. Bezos participated in the action at Mission Control, and Blue Origin employees erupted in cheers when the spacecraft successfully entered orbit 13 minutes later, a feat that drew praise from SpaceX's Elon Musk.

The first stage booster failed to land on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean, but the company stressed that the more important goal was achieved. Bezos said before the flight that landing the booster on the first try was "a little crazy."

"We did it!" Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp revealed via X about reaching orbit. "Towards spring, try landing again."

During this test, the satellite should remain within the second stage as it orbits the Earth. Plans call for placing the second stage in a safe condition to remain in a high and remote orbit in line with NASA's efforts to reduce space debris.

New Glenn was scheduled to take off before dawn Monday, but ice on key pipes caused delays. The rocket is designed to carry spacecraft and eventually astronauts into orbit and the moon.

Blue Origin, founded by Bezos 25 years ago, has been flying paying passengers, including himself, to the edge of space since 2021. The short hop from Texas uses a smaller rocket named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. New Glenn was built in honor of John Glenn and was five times as tall.

Blue Origin has invested more than $1 billion into the New Glenn launch site, redeveloping the historic Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch pad is 9 miles (14 kilometers) from the company's control center and rocket factory, outside the gates of NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Blue Origin expects to conduct six to eight New Glenn flights this year, with the next one coming this spring.

In interviews over the weekend, Bezos declined to disclose his personal investment in the project. He said he doesn't see Blue Origin competing with Musk's SpaceX, which has long been the dominant player in rocket launches.

"There's room for a lot of winners," Bezos said, adding that this was "the very, very beginning of a new phase of the space age where we're going to work together as an industry... to drive down costs." Enter space. "

New Glenn is the latest in a series of large new rockets launched in recent years, including United Launch Alliance's Vulcan, Europe's upgraded Ariane 6 rocket and NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) ), the system that was the successor to the Saturn V and was used to launch astronauts into space. moon.

The largest of these rockets is SpaceX's Starship, which is about 400 feet (123 meters) tall. Musk said the seventh test flight of the complete rocket could take place later Thursday in Texas. He hopes to repeat what he accomplished in October, using a giant robotic arm to grab the returning booster on the launch pad.

NASA plans to use Starship to send astronauts to the moon later this decade. Following the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, the first two moon landings of the space agency's Artemis program will see astronauts descend from lunar orbit to the lunar surface in Starships.

Blue Origin's lander, dubbed Blue Moon, will make its debut during the third astronaut landing on the moon.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has promoted a similar strategy by hiring two companies to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station, thereby promoting the competition for lunar landers. Nelson will resign after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Monday.

Trump appoints tech billionaire Jared Isaacman to run NASA. Isaacman, who twice flew into orbit on his own privately funded SpaceX flights, must be approved by the Senate.

New Glenn's debut was originally to send twin spacecraft to Mars for NASA. But when the space agency discovered the rocket wouldn't be ready in time, they canceled the planned flight last October. They will still fly on the New Glenn rocket, but not until spring at the earliest. The two small spacecraft, called Escapade, are designed to study the Martian atmosphere and magnetic environment as they orbit the red planet.