On the heels of SpaceX's misfortune last week, Jeff Bezos, owner of the space tourism company, Blue Origin, announced a new heavy lift rocket capable of landing vertically and that's as tall as the legendary Saturn V that took Americans to the Moon in the 1960s and 1970s.

Blue Origin named its new 270-foot rocket "New Glenn" after NASA astronaut John Glenn, who on Feb. 20, 1962 became the first American to orbit the Earth aboard the Gemini spacecraft, Friendship 7.

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The first version of New Glenn can develop 17.1 meganewtons of thrust. It will be taller and more powerful than SpaceX's Falcon 9, which is 70 meters tall and delivers 7.6 meganewtons of thrust. A second and ever larger version of New Glenn stands 95 meters tall.

A second and third stage can be added to the first stage of New Glenn.

Both of these additional segments would be powered by a single engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen -- the same engine as powers the New Shepard.

Like its smaller sister ship, New Shepard, New Glenn will have a reusable first stage booster capable of vertical landings. In this aspect, New Glenn will also be similar to Falcon 9.

New Shepard, which can produce 0.31 meganewtons of thrust, has flown five times into suborbital space, with the booster returning safely to Earth the last four times.

"We plan to fly New Glenn for the first time before the end of this decade from historic Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida," said Bezos.

"New Glenn is designed to launch commercial satellites and to fly humans into space. The 3-stage variant -- with its high specific impulse hydrogen upper stage -- is capable of flying demanding beyond-LEO missions."

Bezos said his next project is developing another rocket named "New Armstrong" that will likely be more powerful than New Glenn.

"Our vision is millions of people living and working in space, and New Glenn is a very important step," said Bezos, who also owns Amazon.com.

TagsJeff Bezos, blue origin, New Glenn, John Glenn, Friendship 7, new shepard, Amazon.com