Florida’s sky briefly lit up during the night as one of a handful of big new American-made rockets took flight. It was the first time a new space company achieved orbit on the first launch attempt.

Blue Origin, the rocket company Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos founded, notched one of the most substantial successes in its history on Thursday: sending a rocket to orbit.

After delays and false starts, Jeff Bezos's firm Blue Origin has reached orbit with its first launch of the New Glenn rocket, though attempts to land the first stage at sea were unsuccessful