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.

Flawed rocket launches by SpaceX and Blue Origin still leave both companies in position to dominate the space sector.

Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company Blue Origin on Thursday launched its new mega-rocket, called New Glenn, into orbit for the first time. The rocket lifted

Blue Origin scored a major win with its New Glenn rocket launch, but SpaceX still leads the space industry with a Falcon fleet and upcoming Starship.

Blue Origin successfully conducted the inaugural flight of its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. A few hours later, SpaceX launched a seventh Starship