Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket sits on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center (Gregg Newton/Getty Images)

Bezos’ Blue Origin just scrubbed the debut launch for its flagship rocket

The SpaceX rival has grand plans for the New Glenn rocket, if it ever gets off the ground.

1/13/25 11:28AM

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin called off the debut launch of its largest-ever rocket on Monday morning because of a last-minute “subsystem issue” — another blow to the company’s bid to compete with SpaceX in the commercial space race.

The 30-stories-tall, partially reusable New Glenn launcher is the culmination of a decade-long, multibillion-dollar development spanning three CEOs and numerous delays.

Up, up, and away

Not content with dominating this planet, the new favorite hobby of the billionaire class is to compete in space, with the richest and second-richest men in the world, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, engaged in a futuristic face-off for the final frontier.

Unfortunately for the Amazon founder, he’s losing right now.

Commercial Space Race Chart — Sherwood News

Indeed, Musk’s company SpaceX is dominating the industry, responsible for a skyrocketing ~65% of the total licensed commercial launches in the US since its founding. Blue Origin’s total launch count since its inception is only 16% of what SpaceX managed in 2024 alone.

New Glenn will unlock what Amazon’s founder and Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos hopes will be a long line of contracts, as the rocket — which is expected to be twice as powerful as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 — reportedly carries the first prototype of a maneuverable spacecraft, which Blue Origin wants to sell to the Pentagon and beyond. If it ever gets off the ground, that is.

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Search and Destroy

Ads are showing up on Google’s AI Mode now

Hope it doesn’t go the same route as Google Search!

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Waitlist

Tesla Robotaxi demand outpacing supply in Austin and San Francisco

The service finally became available to the public this week.

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Even OpenAI is worried about Google’s Gemini 3

When OpenAI’s ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022, it sent shock waves through Silicon Valley’s biggest names. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon had all been developing generative AI, but OpenAI’s breakthrough sparked an all-out race to catch up. Until now.

It seems that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is feeling the heat from Google, whose newly released Gemini 3 has been receiving stellar reception from AI leaderboards, analysts, and consumers alike.

“We know we have some work to do but we are catching up fast,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told colleagues last month, after learning about Google’s AI advances, The Information reports. “I expect the vibes out there to be rough for a bit.”

Google’s AI progress, Altman said, could “create some temporary economic headwinds for our company,” but he said OpenAI would emerge on top.

However, it’s worth remembering that, despite OpenAI’s first-mover advantage and supersized valuation, Google is a substantial adversary that is peppering its AI models across its giant existing — and highly lucrative — product suite.

Altman Memo Forecasts ‘Rough Vibes’ Due to Resurgent Google

It seems that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is feeling the heat from Google, whose newly released Gemini 3 has been receiving stellar reception from AI leaderboards, analysts, and consumers alike.

Google’s AI progress, Altman said, could “create some temporary economic headwinds for our company,” but he said OpenAI would emerge on top.