TIME space travel

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ New Rocket Outsizes SpaceX

Photo courtesy of Blue Origin

But it's less powerful

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has unveiled a huge new rocket his space travel company Blue Origin plans to launch by 2020.

Bezos announced the new rocket, called the New Glenn, in a tweet on Monday, accompanied by a picture boasting its size. It’s a reusable booster rocket that stands 270 ft. tall, beating out SpaceX’s 230-ft. Falcon Heavy, and coming close to NASA’s legendary 313-ft. Saturn V. The rocket is named for John Glenn, the only living member of the “Mercury Seven,” NASA’s first seven astronauts.

Though smaller in size, the Falcon Heavy is supposedly the world’s most powerful operational rocket with 5.1 million pounds of thrust. According to Engadget, the New Glenn falls short of that number, clocking in at 3.85 million pounds of thrust.

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