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.

Blue Origin successfully launched the rocket after an attempt earlier in the week was scrubbed. The flight is a crucial test of the company’s ability to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The world’s second richest man has now got a rocket in space alongside the world’s richest man, after Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket entered orbit. The spacecraft, called New Glenn, passed the Kármán line—the internationally recognised boundary of space—at around 2 a.