Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's space exploration technology company "Blue Origin" plans to launch its "New Glenn" orbital rocket for the first time on Friday, in a challenge to Elon Musk's space exploration technology company SpaceX's dominance.

Blue Origin stated in a press release that the "New Glenn" is scheduled to launch at 1 AM Eastern Time on January 10 (2 PM Peking Time) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida, with a launch window of three hours.

Jarrett Jones, Senior Vice President responsible for the "New Glenn" rocket at Blue Origin, said in a statement: "This is our first flight, and we have prepared rigorously for it. However, no amount of ground testing or mission simulation can substitute for actual flight. It's time to take off. Whatever happens, we will learn, improve that knowledge, and apply it to our next launch."

This launch mission is referred to as "NG-1", with a launch window of three hours, from 2 PM to 5 PM Peking Time on January 10. If, for some reason, the launch cannot take place on time, Blue Origin may try again before January 12, depending on the nature of the delay and the time required to resolve the issue.

The NG-1 "New Glenn" rocket launch is a test flight, so the rocket is not carrying a Satellite. Instead, its payload is the "Blue Ring Pathfinder", a prototype of the planned Blue Ring spacecraft. It will test the flight, ground systems, and operational capabilities of the Blue Ring core.

Blue Origin stated: "Our primary goal is to achieve a safe orbit. We know that the first attempt to land in the Atlantic is ambitious, but we are striving for it. Once operational, the Blue Ring spacecraft can transport a payload of 3000 kilograms to geostationary orbit, the Moon, and interplanetary destinations."

"New Glenn" rocket is a flexible design heavy Launch Vehicle for commercial, National Security, and government payloads. The rocket is 98 meters tall, with a fairing nearly 7 meters wide, which is larger than the more typical 5 meters of other rockets, allowing for a greater payload. The rocket has a liftoff thrust of 1750 tons, with a low Earth orbit capacity of 45 tons and a geostationary transfer orbit capacity of over 13 tons.

Its reusable first-stage rocket can fly at least 25 times. The Blue Ring will be mounted on the second-stage rocket. From launch to mission completion, this NG-1 flight is expected to last about 6 hours.

The 20-year competition between Bezos and Musk.

Bezos's Blue Origin and Musk's SpaceX have been competing for over 20 years, which can be considered one of the longest-lasting competitions in the technology field. Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000, while Musk created SpaceX in 2002.

Eric Berger, a writer who has long documented the new space race between Musk and Bezos, said: "Every day, SpaceX is accelerating away from Blue Origin, while the latter is still struggling to do what SpaceX did in 2010."

Faced with Blue Origin's lack of progress, Bezos has had to double down to make the company successful. Since stepping away from daily control of Amazon in 2021, Bezos has taken more oversight of Blue Origin, which is also one of his main reasons for leaving Amazon.

At the end of last year, Bezos prevented his Washington Post from endorsing Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Some insiders speculated that Bezos's move was to avoid alienating Republican candidate Donald Trump, as he was likely to reclaim the White House (which was still uncertain at that time).

Today, both Bezos and Musk are working to build their reusable rockets, except that Bezos has yet to launch the new generation of large orbital rocket, New Glenn, to compete with SpaceX. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the market size of the space exploration industry was $630 billion in 2023, and it is expected to surge to $1.8 trillion by 2035.

Blue Origin needs government contracts.

Bezos often talks about the significance of Blue Origin to him and describes the company's mission from the perspective of survival. He said, "We must go to space to save Earth."

But Blue Origin still needs revenue to maintain operation, and government contracts are its main source of funding. Blue Origin has reached a $3.4 billion agreement with the USA National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to build a lunar "lander" and compete with Musk's SpaceX.

But one issue facing Bezos is that Musk has become a staunch ally of Trump. Former Amazon public relations chief Craig Berman stated that Musk has always been a thorn in Bezos's side.

In response to the Washington Post no longer endorsing Harris, Berman believes that Bezos is more worried about the long-term future of Blue Origin and its impact on humanity's future, rather than the readers' short-term anger at his lack of support for Harris.

Fortunately, the previously tense relationship between Bezos and Trump has eased. Last month, Trump hosted a dinner for Bezos at Mar-a-Lago. In addition, Bezos also announced a $1 million donation to Trump's inauguration committee.