Blue Origin is another of the civilian providers of launch services and this is the one sponsored by Jeff Bezos to the tune of about a billion dollars per year but we don't hear so much from them.
The reason we don't hear so much is Blue Origin's plans aren't the same as with SpaceX, Orbital ATK, and others, all of whom provide launch services for NASA and the military. That has become a profitable business for those vendors but Blue Origin has not been a part of it since their ambition is for taking civilians (i.e. tourists) to space.
A Blue Origin rocket could take tourists to space by April 2019.
Bob Smith, the CEO of the space outfit founded by Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) mastermind Jeff Bezos, mentioned the new timeline during the first meeting of the newly revamped National Space Council on Thursday.
That's a later date than Blue Origin had touted in the past. Just a year ago, the company's president, Rob Meyerson, said the first launch with passengers would be sometime in 2018.
CNN: Blue Origin CEO: We're taking tourists to space within 18 months
There's another real space race in action since SpaceX plans to take tourists to space as well.
A 2019 launch would put Blue Origin's first space tourism trip slightly behind its competitor SpaceX, which is headed by Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
SpaceX plans to take two tourists on a trip around the moon sometime in the last quarter of 2018. SpaceX confirmed Thursday that date hasn't been adjusted since the company first announced those plans back in February.
(Note, however, that Musk is notorious for setting ambitious deadlines -- and blowing through them.)
In the grand scheme of things, SpaceX and Blue Origin have very different strategies for space tourism.
For Blue Origin, sending paying customers to space is part of the bedrock of its early business strategy.
- CNN
Just in case you're not taking Blue Origin seriously, here's an example of them in action.
Unless I'm mistaken, Blue Origin is the only launch service provider after SpaceX which is capable of soft landings for their boosters so they're not falling behind the technology; they're just not so visible with it.
In case you still don't take them seriously, here's a look at where their New Glenn launcher fits in the array of existing launchers.
Blue Origin does have plans to build a much more powerful rocket, called New Glenn, that's capable of competing with SpaceX for satellite launch contracts.
Smith, the Blue Origin CEO, said Thursday that the factory where New Glenn will be manufactured will likely be completed by the end of the year. But even after it's built, the company will have to complete the long, tedious process of certifying the rocket to fly.
Bezos has said the first launch of that rocket will be in 2020.
- CNN
And one more thing, how about a look inside the Blue Origin capsule in which the civilians will be flying.
I don't think I've ever seen a capsule with better visibility than this one and this shows another fundamental difference between Blue Origin and the other launch providers since they have focused on a capsule capsule capable of carrying humans first while the others will concentrate on it last.
The next two years promise some remarkable accomplishments in this new age of civilian space travel and all promise to be highly exciting.
Perhaps most remarkable of all is that these launch providers are all American and there's not any competition apparent at this level from anywhere.
The reason we don't hear so much is Blue Origin's plans aren't the same as with SpaceX, Orbital ATK, and others, all of whom provide launch services for NASA and the military. That has become a profitable business for those vendors but Blue Origin has not been a part of it since their ambition is for taking civilians (i.e. tourists) to space.
A Blue Origin rocket could take tourists to space by April 2019.
Bob Smith, the CEO of the space outfit founded by Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) mastermind Jeff Bezos, mentioned the new timeline during the first meeting of the newly revamped National Space Council on Thursday.
That's a later date than Blue Origin had touted in the past. Just a year ago, the company's president, Rob Meyerson, said the first launch with passengers would be sometime in 2018.
CNN: Blue Origin CEO: We're taking tourists to space within 18 months
There's another real space race in action since SpaceX plans to take tourists to space as well.
A 2019 launch would put Blue Origin's first space tourism trip slightly behind its competitor SpaceX, which is headed by Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
SpaceX plans to take two tourists on a trip around the moon sometime in the last quarter of 2018. SpaceX confirmed Thursday that date hasn't been adjusted since the company first announced those plans back in February.
(Note, however, that Musk is notorious for setting ambitious deadlines -- and blowing through them.)
In the grand scheme of things, SpaceX and Blue Origin have very different strategies for space tourism.
For Blue Origin, sending paying customers to space is part of the bedrock of its early business strategy.
- CNN
Just in case you're not taking Blue Origin seriously, here's an example of them in action.
Unless I'm mistaken, Blue Origin is the only launch service provider after SpaceX which is capable of soft landings for their boosters so they're not falling behind the technology; they're just not so visible with it.
In case you still don't take them seriously, here's a look at where their New Glenn launcher fits in the array of existing launchers.
Blue Origin does have plans to build a much more powerful rocket, called New Glenn, that's capable of competing with SpaceX for satellite launch contracts.
Smith, the Blue Origin CEO, said Thursday that the factory where New Glenn will be manufactured will likely be completed by the end of the year. But even after it's built, the company will have to complete the long, tedious process of certifying the rocket to fly.
Bezos has said the first launch of that rocket will be in 2020.
- CNN
And one more thing, how about a look inside the Blue Origin capsule in which the civilians will be flying.
I don't think I've ever seen a capsule with better visibility than this one and this shows another fundamental difference between Blue Origin and the other launch providers since they have focused on a capsule capsule capable of carrying humans first while the others will concentrate on it last.
The next two years promise some remarkable accomplishments in this new age of civilian space travel and all promise to be highly exciting.
Perhaps most remarkable of all is that these launch providers are all American and there's not any competition apparent at this level from anywhere.
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