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The rocket took off at 2:03 a.m. and reached orbit 13 minutes later, marking Blue Origin's first successful flight.

The successful flight to orbit of the Amazon founder’s powerful rocket suggests it could grow into a credible competitor with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

After years of delays, the billionaire’s Blue Origin space company launched its New Glenn rocket early Thursday.

Bezos’ space company Blue Origin started at about the same time as Musk’s SpaceX but since then Musk’s firm has launched more than 400 of its Falcon 9 rockets into orbit and is testing out its giant Starship rocket which it hopes will send astronauts to the Moon and one day possibly on to Mars.

Shrugging off bad weather, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched its powerful New Glenn rocket on its maiden flight early Thursday, lighting up a cloudy overnight sky as it climbed away from Cape Canaveral in a high-stakes bid to compete with Elon Musk's industry-leading SpaceX.

Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world, successfully blasted off a 320-foot-tall rocket ship made by his Blue Origin company from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early hours of the morning. It made the company the first to successfully reach orbit on its first launch of an orbital-class rocket.

New Glenn’s maiden voyage ramps up an ongoing space race between Blue Origin and SpaceX, which were respectively founded the world’s two richest people. Bezos currently has an estimated net worth of $237 billion, while Musk’s fortune stands at $428.5 billion.

Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' space company, launched its large rocket for the first time early Thursday.

Watching from Mission Control nearby, Jeff Bezos and company employees broke out in cheers and applause as the New Glenn rocket went orbital - the main objective of Blue Origin's launch.

Rodriguez Carrillo / Getty / AFP With the mission, dubbed NG-1, Amazon founder Bezos is taking aim at ... 1,000 kilometres downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX has made such landings now ...

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket on its latest test flight, but the spacecraft was destroyed following a thrilling booster catch back at the pad.