Before the success of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, only Elon Musk's SpaceX had accomplished such a maneuver with an orbital-class rocket. Thursday's successful launch comes amid intensified rivalry between the two billionaire-owned private space companies as the US space agency NASA recently opened up bids for its planned Moon mission.

Blue Origin canceled its planned Mars-bound launch of its ESCAPADE craft for the second time due to increased solar flare activity.

El cohete New Glenn de Blue Origin envía con éxito hacia el planeta rojo dos sondas de la NASA y demuestra su capacidad para hacer la competencia a SpaceX con una lanzadera…