Blue Origin, the rocket company Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos founded, notched one of the most substantial successes in its history on Thursday: sending a rocket to orbit.

Rough seas caused Blue Origin to hold off a planned early Friday launch attempt with is debut of New Glenn, which is now targeting early Sunday instead. SpaceX, though, managed liftoff later Friday with a booster flying for a record 25th time.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched its first New Glenn rocket early Thursday morning from Florida, an inaugural step into Earth's orbit to rival SpaceX in the satellite launch market. (Reporting by Joey Roulette;

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin loaded its New Glenn rocket with propellants on Thursday morning for its debut launch from Florida, its second attempt this week to get the rocket into space and rival SpaceX in the satellite launch market.

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.