Jeff Bezos' 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.

A successful test flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket would allow Jeff Bezos’ space venture to compete against Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Blue Origin hopes New Glenn will make it safely to orbit for the inaugural test flight of a rocket that could rival those in Elon Musk's SpaceX fleet.