Jeff Bezos's giant New Glenn rocket to have its inaugural launch on Sunday

The project represents a multibillion-dollar effort to sate demand for satellite constellation launches and snatch market share from SpaceX

Blue Origin's New Shepard Blue flies toward space carrying 90-year-old Star Trek actor William Shatner and three other civilians in 2021.Jeff Bezos hopes his New Glenn can later start launching Amazon's broadband internet satellite constellation. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin is set for an inaugural launch of its giant New Glenn rocket on Sunday, a long-awaited first leap to Earth orbit that sets up one of the biggest challenges yet to industry dominance enjoyed by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Standing 30 storeys tall, New Glenn has been a core focus for Blue Origin since the beginning of its decade-long development, representing a multibillion-dollar effort to sate demand for satellite constellation launches and snatch market share from SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9.