The New Glenn rocket roared off Blue Origin’s launchpad in the Cape Canaveral, Fla. area just before 4 p.m. ET, according to a company livestream. It is scheduled to deploy two NASA science satellites that will fly to Mars, where their goals include studying the red planet’s atmosphere.

Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Amazon multibillionaire Jeff Bezos, is set for another attempt to launch its towering New Glenn rocket on a mission that will mark its first major test.

And in an engineering feat matched only by SpaceX, the massive 188-foot first-stage booster — aptly named Never Tell Me the Odds — landed atop Blue Origin's drone ship Jacklyn 375 miles offshore in th...