Ten minutes before launch, the launch director conducts a “go survey,” asking people whether the rocket’s systems are ready and whether weather conditions are favorable.

The last four minutes before launch are considered the “final count,” when the rocket’s computer takes over the countdown process.

The booster’s seven engines ignite 5.6 seconds before launch. This gives the computer a chance to check the performance of the engines before proceeding to take off. If something is wrong, the engines will shut down.

If all is well, the clamps holding the rocket will be released and New Glenn will rise into the sky.

A crucial moment will come one minute, 39 seconds after launch, when the rocket passes through so-called Max-Q, when the atmospheric pressure on the rocket is at its greatest.

If it survives this moment unscathed, by the third minute of the flight the booster will be finished pushing the rocket upwards and the engines will shut down. Twelve seconds later it drops and nine seconds later the second stage engine starts.

Not long after, the fairing – the two halves of the nose cone that protect the payload – is jettisoned. At this altitude the atmosphere is so thin that the fairing is no longer needed.

Over the next few minutes, the booster will flash twice as it attempts to land in the Atlantic on a floating platform named Jacklyn, after Jeff Bezos’ mother.

Meanwhile, the second stage engine continues to ignite until almost 13 minutes after launch and then shuts down.

Blue Origin will then commission a prototype of its Blue Ring space tug and test the communications, power and computer systems. It remains attached to the second stage of the rocket.

About an hour after launch, the second stage will perform another engine burn to place it in a high elliptical orbit, reaching up to 1,500 miles from Earth and swinging out to a distance of up to 12,000 miles. This is much higher than launches into low-Earth orbit at a height of a few hundred miles.

In an interview on Sunday, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos said the orbit would allow testing of communications systems at a variety of altitudes. “And it exposes the vehicle to a very harsh radiation environment, which we also want to test,” he said.

Then, almost six hours after launch, the mission is over. The rocket stage and Blue Ring systems will be secured and shut down and will continue in their elliptical orbit. Few other satellites occupy this region, so the chances of them colliding with anything else are slim.

“It will be disposed of where it is,” Mr. Bezos said.