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.

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

Blue Origin launched its massive new rocket on its first test flight Thursday, sending up a prototype satellite to orbit thousands of miles above Earth. Named after the

Blue Origin’s giant New Glenn rocket blasted off from Florida early this morning on its first mission to space, an inaugural step into Earth’s

The mission was partially successful after the booster that propelled the rocket into space failed to land on a platform in the ocean.

After years of delays, the billionaire’s Blue Origin space company launched its New Glenn rocket early Thursday.