For the first time since its founding, nearly a quarter of a century ago, Blue Origin had reached orbit. The long-awaited debut launch of the New Glenn rocket, a super-heavy lift vehicle developed largely with private funding, had come. And it was a smashing success.

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket and spacecraft completed its moon-gravity mission, but the capsule appeared to have a slight hiccup on its return when one of its parachutes did not open entirely on Tuesday.

Bezos' rocketeers tout capability as useful for NASA and other tech providers Blue Origin has sent its reusable New Shepard rocket on another suborbital lob, this time simulating lunar gravity for capsule payloads.