New Glenn, which has been in development for about a decade, can carry 50 tons (45 metric tons) of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO). Its 23-foot-wide (7 m) payload fairing — the shell that surrounds and protects satellites during launch — is larger than that of any operational rocket.

The CEO of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin announced in an all-hands call on Thursday company-wide layoffs of "about 10 percent" of its employees, a sweeping readjustment as it aims to cut costs and ramp up rocket launches.

Blue Origin announced plans to lay off about 10% of its workforce — or more than 1,000 employees — nearly a month after the company debuted its first orbital rocket.