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.

The Amazon founder’s space company marked a major milestone Thursday with the first test flight of its New Glenn rocket.

Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world ... Not to be outdone, his rival, SpaceX founder Elon Musk – the richest man on the planet – launched a Starship rocket from his Starbase ...

The uncrewed New Glenn rocket took off at 2:03 a.m. EST from Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Blue Origin said.

Blue Origin's New Glenn finally roared into orbit in the early hours of Thursday, with SpaceX's Starship rocket set to launch hours later.

After more than a decade of development, hype and pent-up demand, Jeff Bezos’ aerospace venture Blue Origin will at long last attempt to put a rocket into orbit. New Glenn, originally intended to

Trump's former chief strategist told ABC Sunday he believes the billionaires' inauguration attendance is an "official surrender" to the next administration.

Tesla CEO and Amazon founder vie for dominance of satellite launch market and could influence Nasa plans to return to Moon

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.

Granted, Blue Origin poses an even bigger threat to Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Boeing (NYSE: BA) and their United Launch Alliance (ULA) joint venture, which charges $110 million for Vulcan rocket launches. Airbus ' (OTC: EADSY) Arianespace charges $77 million for an Ariane 62 launch, and is probably worried, too.