Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ space company has launched its first rocket into orbit in a bid to challenge the dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The New Glenn rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 02:02 local time (07:02 GMT).

Two of the world’s richest men are competing against each other in the commercial space race for bigger, more powerful rockets.

Both hope to fill the skies with more satellites, operate private space stations and provide regular transportation to the moon.

“Congratulations on hitting orbit on your first try!” Musk wrote in a post to Bezos on X.

Dave Limp, chief executive of Bezos’ space company Blue Origin, said he was “extremely proud.”

“We’ll learn a lot from today and try again in our next release this spring,” he added.

Bezos’ team overcame technical hurdles that delayed the launch due to ice earlier this week.

Blue Origin employees and crowds gathered near Cape Canaveral to cheer as the 98-meter rocket hurtled into orbit.

But the company was unable to land New Glenn’s main rocket motor or boosters on the platform in the Atlantic Ocean.

The company had hoped the booster could be reused on a future launch, but about 20 minutes into the flight it confirmed its engine had been lost.

Bezos’ company Blue Origin has struggled to keep up with the pace set by SpaceX. But the launch will be seen as an important step forward for the business.

The New Glenn rocket is named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit Earth more than 60 years ago.

The rocket is more powerful than SpaceX’s most commonly used rocket, the Falcon 9. It can also carry more satellites, which Bezos hopes to use as part of his Project Kuiper, which aims to deploy thousands of low-Earth satellites to provide broadband services.

The project will directly compete with Musk’s Starlink service.

Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin 25 years ago, claiming he wanted “millions of people to work and live in space.”

For years, the company has launched a small reusable rocket called New Shepard to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. It has carried passengers and payloads, including Bezos himself in 2021.

But Blue Origin’s performance lags far behind SpaceX, which launched 134 rockets last year.

SpaceX’s new generation rocket “Starship” is even more powerful. The company hopes to conduct its seventh test flight later today.

Some experts say New Glenn’s success will create real competition between the two companies and potentially lower space operating costs.

Dr Simon Barber of the Open University said: “You will see these two companies challenging each other to make further progress.”

Historically, governments have spent billions of dollars building rockets and launching missions into space.

But NASA is moving away from relying solely on public funding and has awarded huge contracts to private companies to provide rockets and other space services.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has secured space contracts worth billions of dollars.

His close relationship with the next U.S. President, Donald Trump, could further strengthen his company.