BATTLE OF BILLIONARIES for space: Bezos vs. Musk: They want to introduce regular flights to the moon…

Osnivač Amazon Jeff Bezos, sent his space company’s first rocket into orbit in an effort to match the dominance of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The New Glenn rocket was launched yesterday from the Cape Canaveral Space Base in Florida. This move further strengthened the rivalry between the world’s two richest men in the commercial space race, where they compete to develop bigger and more powerful rockets. Both want to operate private space stations and enable regular passenger flights to the moon, according to the BBC.

– Č I appreciate you reaching orbit on the first try! – Musk wrote in a post to Bezos on the X platform.

Bezos’ team overcame technical hurdles that caused a delay earlier this week, when ice formation halted the launch. Blue Origin employees and a crowd gathered near Cape Canaveral cheered the moment the 98-meter-tall rocket soared into orbit.

However, the company failed to land the main rocket engine of New Glenn, the so-called booster, to a platform in the Atlantic Ocean. It was hoped that the booster would be reusable for future launches, but after about 20 minutes of flight, the company confirmed the loss of the engine. The company Blue Origin has struggled for a long time to catch up with SpaceX, but this launch will be considered a big step forward for the business. The New Glenn rocket was named after John Glenn, the first American astronaut who orbited the Earth more than 60 years ago. This rocket is more powerful than SpaceX’s most frequently used Falcon 9 rocket. It can also carry more satellites, which Bezos wanted to use as part of his Kuiper project. Its goal is to place thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit to provide broadband services.

That project would directly compete with Musk’s Starlink service. Jeff Bezos founded Blue Origin 25 years ago, saying he wanted “millions of people to work and live in space.” For years, the company sent a smaller, reusable rocket called New Shepard to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. It carried passengers and cargo, including Bezos himself in 2021. But Blue Origin lagged far behind SpaceX, which launched its rockets 134 times last year.

A new generation SpaceX’s rocket, called Starship, is even more powerful. The company hopes to launch its seventh test flight. Experts claim that the success of the New Glenn rocket could create real competition between the two companies and reduce the cost of space operations.

Space agency NASA is increasingly awarding contracts to private companies to provide rocket and other space services. Elon Musk’s SpaceX moreć has received billions of dollars for missions.