Blue Origin LLC’s new flagship rocket lifted off for the first time and successfully reached orbit in a crucial test of the Jeff Bezos-backed firm’s ability to challenge SpaceX’s ironclad grip on the launch market.

The company, started by the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, reset its countdown clock repeatedly over a period of just over two hours before eventually postponing the test flight to another day.

Flawed rocket launches by SpaceX and Blue Origin still leave both companies in position to dominate the space sector.