Relive New Glenn’s maiden voyage here as it happened. Blue Origin, the rocket company Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos founded, notched one of the most substantial successes in its history on Thursday: sending a rocket to orbit.

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 billionaire space race entered a new phase today when Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin successfully launched its 320-foot-tall New Glenn rocket into space from Cape Canaveral in Florida. At 2:03AM ET on Thursday morning,

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;

Blue Origin's giant New Glenn rocket blasted off from Florida early Thursday morning on its first mission to space, an inaugural step into Earth's orbit for Jeff Bezos' space company as it aims to rival SpaceX in the satellite launch business.

Shrugging off bad weather, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched its powerful New Glenn rocket on its maiden flight early Thursday, lighting up a cloudy overnight sky as it climbed away from Cape Canaveral in a high-stakes bid to compete with Elon Musk's industry-leading SpaceX.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin loaded its New Glenn rocket with propellants on Thursday morning for its debut launch from Florida, its second attempt this week to get the rocket into space and rival SpaceX in the satellite launch market.