Blue Origin, the space company owned by Jeff Bezos, has successfully launched its New Glenn rocket from Florida. The rocket was carrying two Nasa spacecraft deployed towards Mars. The Escapade satellites will take 22 months to reach Mars and will orbit the planet to measure its atmosphere and magnetic field. The reusable booster powering New Glenn also separated from the rocket's upper stage and touched down on a floating landing pad in the Atlantic Ocean, in a successful first for Blue Origin.

Blue Origin has for the first time landed the booster rocket for its largest spacecraft in a step forward for Jeff Bezos’s space venture as it tries to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the satellite launch market. The company launched its 98-metre rocket called New Glenn from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3.55pm on Thursday, several months later than planned and nearly a year after Blue Origin conducted its inaugural flight. https://on.ft.com/4nQA9IV | Financial Times