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 successfully launched its two-stage heavy-lift New Glenn rocket on its unmanned maiden voyage into space early Thursday, achieving the mission's primary goal of reaching orbit.

The New Glenn makes it safely into orbit for the inaugural test flight of a rocket that could rival those in Elon Musk's SpaceX fleet.