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We're now ending our coverage of the New Glenn launch.

It's been an overwhelming success for Blue Origin, who said prior to today that the key objective was for New Glenn to reach orbit safely, which it did.

It ultimately failed to land its booster back in the Atlantic, but admitted this had been "ambitious".

What happens now?

The second stage of the rocket is now gliding through orbit, carrying the Blue Ring Pathfinder payload.

In a short while, the rocket's upper stage will orient itself down towards Earth and, after about four hours (around 1pm UK time), it's expected to head back into Earth's atmosphere.

It will then likely aim to burn up over a remote area of the ocean.

During today's launch, we heard a readout of a touching message sent by the late John Glenn to Jeff Bezos.

New Glenn's namesake was the first American to orbit the Earth and became the then-oldest person in space when he flew again at the age of 77 in 1998.

This morning's broadcast host, Ariane Cornell, read out a note that Glenn sent to Bezos before his death in 2016.

"When I first orbited the Earth in 1962, you were still two years from being born," he says.

"And when I returned to space in 1998, Blue Origin was still two years in the future 鈥� but you were already driven by a vision of space travel accessible not only to highly trained pilots, engineers and scientists, but to all of us.

"I'm deeply touched that you've named the second-generation of those rockets New Glenn. 

"As the original 'Glenn,' I can tell you I see the day coming when people will board spacecraft the same way millions of us now board jet liners. When that happens, it will be largely because of your epic achievements this year."

Here's the long-anticipated moment that Blue Origin got its New Glenn rocket off the ground this morning in Florida.

The huge vehicle successful took off and managed to complete its goal of reaching orbit above Earth.

Jeff Bezos has posted footage of New Glenn's launch online.

He shared a montage of moments from the launch, complete with motivational music and shots of crowds cheering.

The Blue Origin rocket completed its ascent into orbit around ten minutes after launch.

Elon Musk has congratulated Jeff Bezos on New Glenn successfully reaching orbit.

Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, is hoping this morning's launch will seriously rival Musk's SpaceX.

You can read more on the space race between the world's richest people - and what it could mean for humanity's venture into the great beyond - in the link below...

Those lucky enough to be near the launch site have captured footage of the moment New Glenn ascended into the skies.

The rumbling sound of its engines can be heard in the video below as onlookers clap and cheer.

Here's the moment that New Glenn's engines engaged and the huge Blue Origin rocket launched for the first time.

It's a pivotal moment for the company and its owner Jeff Bezos after years of delays and postponements.

The Blue Origin team has signed off from its livestream in Florida, where it's just gone 2.30am.

Ariane Cornell, vice president of in-space systems, says this has been a "momentous step" and an "historic launch" for the company.

She says the launch is part of the longer plan to "build the road to space for the benefit of mankind".

"The next era of space flight at Blue Origin is upon us," she concludes. 

Here's the moment Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos watched his New Glenn rocket launch from the mission control room.

The Amazon boss is now firmly a part of the billionaire boys' club sending rockets into space.

It appears that New Glenn's first-stage rocket booster failed to hit its mark landing on its platform in the Atlantic.

On the Blue Origin livestream - which you can watch above - vice president of in-space systems Ariane Cornell says the booster "got close".

"We met many of our objectives today, we exceeded them," she said. "We had a clean stage separation, a clean faring separation. We reached orbit.

"We didn't have booster landing, but man we got close."