Blue Origin's long-awaited New Glenn rocket is preparing for its inaugural launch on Sunday, signaling a major step forward for Jeff Bezos’ space company and a potential challenge to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Standing 30 stories tall, New Glenn represents a significant multibillion-dollar effort by Blue Origin to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and capture a share of the growing satellite constellation launch market. If successful, New Glenn will also enable the deployment of Amazon’s Kuiper satellite network, directly competing with SpaceX's Starlink for global broadband coverage.

The launch, scheduled for 1 am ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, will see New Glenn send its first payload into orbit—a Blue Ring satellite designed for national security missions and satellite servicing. New Glenn is more powerful than Falcon 9, with a larger payload capacity, which could position it as a key player in the satellite launch industry. However, it still lags behind SpaceX's Starship in terms of sheer power and capabilities.

The debut of New Glenn follows years of delays and development challenges for Blue Origin, including leadership changes and competition from SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9. Despite these hurdles, New Glenn’s launch has attracted significant interest, with the company securing multi-launch deals with major clients like Eutelsat, Telesat, and AST SpaceMobile. This launch is also a crucial certification step for the US Space Force, allowing New Glenn to bid on national security missions in the near future.