Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket hit a significant milestone this week, completing its first second-stage hot fire test that validates the interactions between the subsystems, its two BE-3U engines, and the ground control systems.

Although beset by launch delays, the project — which aims to rival SpaceX's Falcon 9 — is moving steadily toward launch.

Blue Origin carried out a hotfire test for its New Glenn rocket second stage on Monday (Sept. 23) as the company moves toward the huge vehicle's debut flight.

A pair of NASA spacecraft know as the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) to be launched to Mars by a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket. ESCAPADE will study how the "solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape,

This marked the first time that Blue Origin, a space company founded by Jeff Bezos more than two decades ago, has integrated and fired an orbital rocket stage. After the test, Blue Origin said it is still tracking toward a November launch of the New Glenn rocket.