It's a major milestone for the company's new mega-rocket system, putting it in position to challenge SpaceX's dominance of the global launch market.

Amazon paid about $1.8 billion last year to Blue Origin, the aerospace company owned by its founder and board chair Jeff Bezos — nearly triple the amount the year before — as shareholders weigh a proposal citing his business interests outside Amazon as potential conflicts of interest.

In an FCC filing, SpaceX argues that a component of Blue Origin’s TeraWave project risks creating interference with Starlink.