While Jeff Bezos has spent $14 billion to achieve his first space launch, his billionaire rival has built a thriving business, mostly with other people’s money.

Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world, successfully blasted off a 320-foot-tall rocket ship made by his Blue Origin company from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early hours of the morning. It made the company the first to successfully reach orbit on its first launch of an orbital-class rocket.

Watch as Amazon boss Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin attempted to launch its New Glenn rocket for the first time from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Monday, 13 January. It was to be the long-delayed debut launch of Mr Bezos's challenge to SpaceX's dominance in the satellite launch market.

Hours after Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin nailed its first-ever orbital mission, SpaceX seized back the spotlight on Thursday as its latest test of Starship, its gargantuan next-generation megarocket, ended with the upper stage dramatically disintegrating over the Atlantic.

Project Kuiper, as it is known, will see Amazon launch thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit to form a constellation similar to SpaceX’s Starlink internet network. SpaceX has already deployed more than 7,000 Starlink satellites, which deliver high-speed internet to 95 countries around the world.

Biden's farewell speech warning that oligarchs pose a threat to democracy has echoed a growing problem in the world, economic and historical experts say.

The agency launched an investigation into the “space vehicle mishap” on Thursday night that forced commercial flights to divert and caused debris to rain toward Caribbean islands.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk took to X on Thursday night to explain what his company believes may have caused part of the Starship rocket to experience a "rapid unscheduled disassembly."

The guest list includes some of America’s most influential tech billionaires and politicians as well as some foreign leaders and celebrities who have embraced Trump.

This weekly newsletter on rockets provides definitive coverage of the global launch industry. The big news this week is the New Glenn and Starship missions.