Blue Origin achieves first landing of reused New Glenn rocket booster

April 19 (Reuters) - Blue Origin on Sunday said its New Glenn rocket ‌booster touched down after its ‌launch, marking its first landing of a reused ​booster.

New Glenn carries AST SpaceMobile's BlueBird 7 satellite to low-Earth orbit in a flight that marks a pivotal step for ‌the Jeff ⁠Bezos-led company.

The mission was key in showing that New Glenn, a ⁠29-story heavy-lift rocket, has a reliable booster reuse capability and can compete ​with Elon ​Musk's SpaceX Falcon ​9 rocket.

The rocket's ‌booster, "Never Tell Me the Odds," previously flew on the NG-2 mission in November and was recovered, setting up this week's milestone attempt.

The booster's name is a ‌nod to Han Solo's ​line in the ​film 'Star Wars: The ​Empire Strikes Back.'

Following a ‌series of delays earlier this ​month, the ​mission comes amid a surge of activity in the space sector, ​including a ‌successful NASA Artemis II lunar flyby.

(Reporting ​by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru. Editing ​by Jane Merriman)