Blue Origin reused a launch booster for the first time, although the mission it was used on was unsuccessful.
Landing and reusing a rocket — something only SpaceX had done before — is a major milestone for the Jeff Bezos-backed space company, but an unspecified malfunction with the craft’s upper stage meant its payload, a communications satellite, did not reach a high enough orbit to work.
Blue Origin is well behind SpaceX, which accounted for 82% of all commercial launches last year and has a thousands-strong fleet of Starlink internet satellites. But Bezos has deep pockets, and has pledged to invest billions to catch up.