Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world, successfully blasted off a 320-foot-tall rocket ship made by his Blue Origin company from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early hours of the morning. It made the company the first to successfully reach orbit on its first launch of an orbital-class rocket.

The un-manned New Glenn rocket ship is designed to carry objects, such as satellites, into outer space with part of it returning to earth and be re-used.

Not to be outdone, his rival, SpaceX founder Elon Musk – the richest man on the planet – launched a Starship rocket from his Starbase factory and launch site in Texas just after 5:30 p.m.

Things are said to be fever pitched between two men, both described as "ego fueled," but Musk currently holds a serious lead in the race, with 138 SpaceX launches in 2024, compared to Blue Origin's four.

"It'll take a very long time for Blue Origin to catch SpaceX in terms of launches per year," Ashlee Vance, author of "When the Heavens went on Sale," told The Post.

"But this is a major achievement and milestone. It's an incredibly hard and expensive business. Blue Origin has certainly now emerged as a legitimate competitor."