For the first time, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has put a payload in orbit using its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket.

For millions, it was an event that would be seared into their memories for the rest of their lives – on par with the Kennedy assassination and 9/11.

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the date of the Space Shuttle Columbia ... 32 months before another shuttle left a launch pad. Within days, NASA concluded ...