After years of delays, the billionaire’s Blue Origin space company launched its New Glenn rocket early Thursday.

Jeff Bezos Blue Origin has launched its massive new rocket on first test flight from Florida. Named after the first American to orbit Earth, the New Glenn rocket blasted off from Florida, soaring from the same pad used to launch NASA's Mariner and Pioneer spacecraft a half-century ago.

Blue Origin called off the debut launch of its massive new rocket early Monday because of technical trouble. The 98-metre New Glenn rocket was supposed to blast off before dawn with a prototype satellite from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.