Blue Origin set for first launch of giant New Glenn rocket

Cape Canaveral: A quarter of a century after its founding, Jeff Bezos s Blue Origin is finally ready for its maiden orbital voyage on Sunday with a br...

Cape Canaveral: A quarter of a century after its founding, Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is finally ready for its maiden orbital voyage on Sunday with a brand new rocket the company hopes will shake up the commercial space race.

Named New Glenn after a legendary astronaut, it stands 320 feet (98 meters) tall, roughly equivalent to a 32-story building -- and is set to blast off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in a launch window that opens at 1:00 am (0600 GMT).

"Pointy end up!" the company's CEO, Dave Limp posted on X alongside photos of the gleaming white behemoth.

With the mission, dubbed NG-1, Bezos, the world's second-richest man, is taking direct aim at the world's wealthiest: Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX dominates the orbital launch market through its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

These serve the commercial sector, the Pentagon, and NASA -- including, crucially, ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station.