Bezos's Blue Origin targets Friday for first orbital launch

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin will launch its first orbital rocket "no earlier than Friday", it said, a pivotal moment in the commercial space race currently dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Named New Glenn, it is targeting a liftoff no earlier than Friday, January 10 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the company said in a statement late on Monday.

"The three-hour launch window opens at" 1:00 am (0600 GMT), it added.

The NG-1 mission will carry a prototype of Blue Ring, a US Defense Department-funded spacecraft envisioned as a versatile satellite deployment platform, which will remain on board the rocket's second stage for the duration of the six-hour test flight.

It will mark Blue Origin's long-awaited entry into the lucrative orbital launch market after years of suborbital flights with its smaller New Shepard rocket, which carries passengers and payloads on brief trips to the edge of space.

"This is our first flight and we've prepared rigorously for it," said New Glenn's senior vice president Jarrett Jones in the statement.