Watch: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket launch to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX cancelled

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Watch as Amazon boss Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin attempted to launch its New Glenn rocket for the first time from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday, 13 January.

The launch was called off after hours of delays.

Writing on X, the company said: “We’re standing down on today’s launch attempt to troubleshoot a vehicle subsystem issue that will take us beyond our launch window.

“We’re reviewing opportunities for our next launch attempt.”

It was to be the long-delayed debut launch of Mr Bezos's challenge to SpaceX's dominance in the satellite launch market.

The launch would have been a certification flight required by the US Space Force before New Glenn could launch lucrative Pentagon missions.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder, wished Blue Origin well with a “Good luck!” message posted on X.

New Glenn is named after John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth.

According to Blue Origin, the rocket is “engineered with the safety and redundancy required to fly humans” and “will enable [its] vision of building a road to space for the benefit of Earth.”

Blue Origin said its key objective for Monday’s launch was to reach orbit safely, and anything beyond that was “icing on the cake.”

“We know landing the booster on our first try offshore in the Atlantic is ambitious—but we’re going for it. No matter what happens, we’ll learn, refine, and apply that knowledge to our next launch,” they added.