Jeff Bezos' rocket ship achieved a breakthrough Monday by traveling 329,839 feet into outer space and then landing upright upon its return to Earth. 
 
 In the past, rockets were disposed of after launching space craft into outer space. Reusable rockets would substantially reduce the cost of space flight. 
 
 Amazon (AMZN) founder Bezos started his space company, Blue Origin, in the hopes of using his New Shepard rocket to carry tourists into space. 
 
 "Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts -- a used rocket," Bezos said. "Full reuse is a game changer, and we can't wait to fuel up and fly again." 
 
 Bezos, in an interview with CNN, said current space flight is inefficient -- as if airlines discarded 747 jets after each cross-country flight. 
 
 "You can imagine how expensive your ticket would be," he said. 
 
 Rival rocket business SpaceX, which was started by Tesla Motors (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk, has been trying to land rockets upright as well. 
 
 Some SpaceX rockets have landed upright in test flights that never left the atmosphere. But SpaceX's attempts to travel to outer space and return to upright landings have so far been unsuccessful. The rockets have toppled over while attempting to land on a platform in the ocean. 
 
 Blue Origin and SpaceX are two of the main players in the new business of private space launches. Another is Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which hopes to carry passengers to space in a vehicle launched from an airplane and that lands like a plane on a runway. 
 
 Bezos said he doesn't consider those companies Blue Origin competitors. 
 
 "I think of our competition primarily as Earth's gravity," he said. "Space is a big place. There's room for all of us." 
 
 The aim eventually is to carry astronauts, including tourists, into space -- something NASA no longer does with its own rockets. 
 
 Blue Origin is taking names of people interested in hopping aboard a future flight. But it has yet to announce how much it will cost or how many people have signed up. 
 
 SpaceX and Boeing (BA) have won contracts from NASA to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. SpaceX is already carrying supplies to ISS. 
 
 Related: Amazon CE Jeff Bezos moves up to world's fourth richest man 
 
 Musk tweeted congratulations to Bezos and Blue Origin early Tuesday. But he also took a dig at Blue Origin. Musk noted that rockets that reach the space station have to go 10 times as fast, and use 100 times the energy, of suborbital rockets that reach the edge of space as Blue Origin did. 
 
 "It is ... important to clear up the difference between 'space' and 'orbit,'" he tweeted. 
 
 It is, however, important to clear up the difference between "space" and "orbit", as described well by https://t.co/7PD42m37fZ — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015 
 
 But Bezos said the part of the rocket that Musk is attempting to land is pretty much the same kind of spacecraft as Blue Origin's. 
 
 "What SpaceX is trying to do is very similar," he said. 
 
 Musk also responded to Bezos' tweet by claiming that an earlier SpaceX rocket had completed six "suborbital" flights and successfully landed. But none of those flights got close to outer space. The longest of them only went 744 meters high. That's less than 1% of the altitude that Blue Origin's flight reached on Monday. 
 
 @JeffBezos Not quite "rarest". SpaceX Grasshopper rocket did 6 suborbital flights 3 years ago & is still around. pic.twitter.com/6j9ERKCNZl — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015 
 
 All three companies have had setbacks in their efforts to carry people into space. 
 
 A Virgin Galactic spaceship crashed during a test flight in October 2014, killing one of the two pilots. An unmanned SpaceX supply flight to ISS exploded soon after launch in June. And New Shepard had its first successful launch into space in April, but the rocket was not recovered because of a problem with the hydraulic system. 
 
 Bezos said this time his rocket performed exactly as planned, traveling into the edge of outer space before returning. 
 
 The rocket's engines reignited at 5,000 feet above ground to slow descent, and it was traveling at only 4.4 mph during its final 100 feet. It landed only 4-1/2 feet off the dead center of the the landing pad. 
 
 The space capsule on the top of the rocket that will someday carry space tourists separated from the rocket once it reached space and returned to Earth via parachute. 
 
 The New Shepard is named after Alan Shepard, the first American to go to outer space. 
 
 Bezos said he has wanted to travel into space himself since, as a five-year-old, he watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon in 1969. Like Branson and Musk, Bezos said he plans to take one of his own rockets into space as soon as possible. ||||| Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos' spaceflight company has landed its rocket back on Earth for the first time after flying to space. 
 
 According to a thrilling new video released by Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company launched its New Shepard rocket to the edge of space and then land it back on the planet during the vehicle's first successful uncrewed reusability test Monday. 
 
 See also: Jeff Bezos wants millions of people to live in space 
 
 "Rockets have always been expendable. Not anymore," Bezos wrote in a blog post announcing the rocket test Tuesday. 
 
 "Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket." 
 
 Other companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX have attempted to land rocket stages coming back from space before, although Musk's rocket company hasn't yet attempted to land the first stage of their Falcon 9 on land after flying a payload to space. 
 
 Blue Origin tested the space system earlier this year, but the company wasn't able to land the rocket back on the ground due to hydraulics issues. 
 
 "Full reuse is a game changer, and we can’t wait to fuel up and fly again," Bezos added. 
 
 For the test, the New Shepard rocket brought the space system's capsule about 100.5 kilometers into the air, reaching a max speed of Mach 3.72. 
 
 The capsule — the part of the craft designed to eventually carry six people to suborbital space — then gently landed back on Earth after deploying its parachutes, but the rocket had a different path to the ground. 
 
 The New Shepard's engine kicked back on about 5,000 feet above its landing pad and, after some maneuvering, and deploying its landing legs, the rocket made a soft touchdown back on Earth. The vehicle was moving at just 4.4 mph when it made its landing, Blue Origin said. 
 
 "This flight validates our vehicle architecture and design," Bezos wrote. 
 
 Eventually, Blue Origin plans to offer suborbital flights to space aboard New Shepard, but the company's ambitions don't stop there. Blue Origin also plans to build and launch an orbital rocket that would fly people and cargo to space from Florida. 
 
 All of these projects focus around Bezos' vision for the future. 
 
 Bezos and others claim that reusable rockets could greatly lower the cost of access to space. Instead of effectively throwing away rocket components after one use, Bezos hopes to use those rocket parts again and again over the course of at least a few missions. 
 
 "The vision for Blue [Origin] is pretty simple," Bezos said during a media roundtable in September. "We want to see millions of people living and working in space, and that’s going to take a long time. It’s a worthwhile goal." 
 
 Bezos' fellow charismatic spaceflight enthusiast and rocket company owner Elon Musk sent some words of congratulation (and a few words of clarification) to Blue Origin Tuesday via Twitter. 
 
 Congrats to Jeff Bezos and the BO team for achieving VTOL on their booster — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015 
 
 It is, however, important to clear up the difference between "space" and "orbit", as described well by https://t.co/7PD42m37fZ — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015 
 
 Getting to space needs ~Mach 3, but GTO orbit requires ~Mach 30. The energy needed is the square, i.e. 9 units for space and 900 for orbit. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2015 
 
 For what it's worth, Musk knows what he's talking about. SpaceX also wants to create a fleet of reusable rockets to lower the cost of access to orbit. 
 
 SpaceX has attempted to land their Falcon 9 rockets on a drone ship in the ocean after to orbit, although those tests have not yet been totally successful. 
 
 Updated at 1:33 p.m. ET: This story was updated to include a little more information about Blue Origin and SpaceX. ||||| Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin space company launched its New Shepard spacecraft on April 29. (Blue Origin via Reuters) 
 
 Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin space company will take over a launch pad at Cape Canaveral and open a manufacturing site nearby, bringing another high-profile tenant to the Florida Space Coast. 
 
 Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com, said that Blue Origin will fly its orbital launch vehicle from the historic Launch Complex 36, which was home to 145 launches, including those of the Mariner missions and Pioneer 10. 
 
 But, as Bezos noted, “the pad has stood silent for more than 10 years — too long. We can’t wait to fix that.” 
 
 Bezos said at his news conference in Cape Canaveral that Blue Origin will be “launching from here later this decade” but didn’t provide other details about the company’s timing. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) 
 
 In April, Blue Origin, based in Kent, Wash., completed the first test flight of its New Shepard space vehicle. The unmanned craft reached Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound, and an altitude of 307,000 feet, very close to what’s considered the threshold for space. 
 
 [Jeff Bezos's spaceship just finished its first flight test] 
 
 Like Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin is meant to fly tourists into space, allowing them the chance to view Earth from more than 60 miles away and experience weightlessness. 
 
 At the event Tuesday, Bezos unveiled a photo of the new orbital launch vehicle, which he said would launch vertically and have a fully reusable booster stage. He said the company would share more details about the vehicle sometime next year. 
 
 In an interview after the event, Bezos said, "The thing I'm most excited about is humans in space, and the vision for me is millions of people living and working in space." 
 
 But he said the the new vehicle would also be able to deliver commercial satellites to space, and could position the company to bid on lucrative government contracts from NASA and even the Pentagon. That could put it into competition with some of the industry's biggest players, including SpaceX, Boeing and Orbital ATK. 
 
 By taking up residence on the Space Coast, Bezos’s company will join a growing number of commercial entities that are slowly transforming Cape Canaveral into what NASA calls a “multi-user spaceport.” The commercial investment is slowly reinvigorating a historic stretch of coast, which has suffered since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011. 
 
 Elon Musk’s SpaceX has a lease to operate Launch Complex 39A, which was used by the space shuttle program. Boeing is also increasing its presence on the cape, taking over a former shuttle facility to build its new capsule, the CST-100 Starliner. 
 
 The development on Cape Canaveral comes as the commercial space industry has made some remarkable achievements, fueled by a class of billionaires, including Bezos, Musk, Richard Branson and Paul Allen, who are pouring their fortunes and ingenuity into space travel. NASA has also helped prop up the industry by contracting out missions to carry cargo and, eventually, astronauts to the International Space Station. 
 
 Like Musk, who has tried landing the first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on a barge at sea, Bezos said Blue Origin would attempt to develop a reusable first stage. Being able to reuse the most expensive part of the rocket, instead of ditching it into the sea, or allowing it to burn up, would dramatically lower the cost of space flight. 
 
 "If you reduce it enough by making the vehicle reusable, then you can start to have people going on space adventures," he said. 
 
 The new launch vehicle could be powered by both the BE-3 and BE-4 engines that Blue Origin is developing. Blue Origin is currently in a partnership with the United Launch Alliance, which would like to use the BE-4 in its new rocket, the Vulcan. That deal may be in jeopardy, however. Aerojet Rocketdyne, which is also developing an engine, has reportedly made a bid to acquire ULA, the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. 
 
 If Aerojet does acquire ULA, many analysts think it would use its engine instead of the BE-4, leaving Blue Origin out in the cold. 
 
 But Bezos said that the company is undeterred by that prospect, saying that no matter what happens with ULA, Blue Origin needs the BE-4 for its new launch vehicle. "No matter what, we are building the engine," he said. 
 
 The launch complex that Blue Origin is taking over was in use for 43 years before it was shuttered. It was home to the Mariner missions, which were designed to be the first U.S. spacecraft to fly by other planets, including Venus and Mars. Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, also launched from there. 
 
 In his remarks, Bezos said that as a kid, he “was inspired by the giant Saturn V missions that roared to life from these shores. Now we are thrilled to be coming to the Sunshine State for a new era of exploration.” 
 
 He closed by telling the news media: "One day, I don't know how long this will take, I look forward to having a press conference with you guys in space."
– Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin space firm beat Elon Musk's SpaceX to the punch and launched its Blue Shepard reusable rocket into outer space, then returned to its landing pad in its "first successful uncrewed reusability test," Mashable reports. The BE-3 rocket and empty crew capsule flew to a suborbital height of about 62 miles, at which point the capsule and rocket separated, Engadget reports. The capsule landed on Earth with the help of parachutes, the rocket's engines roared back to life about 5,000 feet above the landing pad, and the rocket touched down at 4.4mph. "Rockets have always been expendable," Bezos wrote in a Monday blog post. "Not anymore. Now safely tucked away at our launch site in West Texas is the rarest of beasts, a used rocket." Bezos also tweeted a video of the event Tuesday morning, noting "Controlled landing not easy, but done right, can look easy." Bezos notes how reusable rockets could economize space travel, telling CNNMoney that current space travel is akin to airlines throwing out every 747 jet after it makes a cross-country journey. "You can imagine how expensive your ticket would be," he notes. Elon Musk tweeted kudos Tuesday, posting, "Congrats to Jeff Bezos and the BO team for achieving VTOL on their booster," though he turned that compliment into a backhanded one with a tweet that read, "It is, however, important to clear up the difference between 'space' and 'orbit.'" His point: that even though SpaceX's rockets have yet to nail an upright landing after leaving Earth's atmosphere, at least his rockets leave the atmosphere—a task requiring 10 times more speed and 100 times the energy of suborbital rockets, per CNN. But Bezos says he doesn't even consider Musk's company, or Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, to be competitors. "I think of our competition primarily as Earth's gravity," he says. "Space is a big place. There's room for all of us." (The last Virgin Galactic launch didn't go well.)