Blue Origin

Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000 with the vision of enabling people to live and work in space for the benefit of the Earth while also expanding, exploring, and finding new material in space. The company develops low-cost launch vehicles that are partially and fully reusable for commercial and defense customers. 

The company entered the space tourism segment in July 2021 with its first crewed launch in the New Shepard flight, which is a reusable rocket-capsule combo designed to carry people and science experiments to suborbital space. The 10- to 12-minute flight, which is fully autonomous and with no pilots, can take six passengers to view the Earth from space before descending under three large parachutes. The engine claims to have no carbon emissions, as it is fueled by liquid oxygen and hydrogen and runs with water vapor as the only exhaust. Blue Origin is the first company to begin offering regular suborbital space tourism flights, and, as of June 2022, the company had completed five missions. The company has not publicly disclosed the per passenger price. Blue Origin is also developing New Glenn, an orbital reusable launch vehicle, which the company claims has 2x the payload volume of any existing launch vehicle.

In January 2022, the company announced that it will acquire Honeybee Robotics, a manufacturer of advanced robotic systems catering to government and industrial customers in the spacecraft, planetary exploration, defense robotics, medical devices, mining, oil and gas, and utility infrastructure sectors. The acquisition is expected to create new opportunities, efficiencies, and innovations over time, as both entities work together to develop space to benefit Earth. 

In May 2023 , Blue Origin was awarded a USD 3.4 billion NASA  firm-fixed-price contract to develop a human landing system (HLS) for the Artemis V mission slated for 2029. Through the contract, the company’s Blue Moon lander will be designed, developed, tested, and verified to meet NASA’s HLS requirements for recurring astronaut transportation to the lunar surface, including docking with Gateway. The contract also required Blue Origin to conduct an uncrewed demonstration before the Artemis V mission.

In October 2023, the company announced the launch of Blue Ring, a new orbital maneuvering vehicle, offering in-space logistics and delivery from medium Earth orbit to cislunar space and beyond, accommodating payloads of over 3,000 kg. No pricing information or specific timeline for its entry into service was provided.

Key customers and partnerships

In October 2021, Blue Origin and Sierra Space announced that the companies are developing Orbital Reef, a commercial space station, backed by players in the space including Boeing, Redwire Space, Genesis Engineering Solutions, and Arizona State University. Orbital Reef will be a commercially developed, owned, and operated space station to be built in low Earth orbit. In addition to crewed and cargo missions, Blue Origin hopes that will be a hub for commercial industries, such as manufacturing, entertainment, sports, gaming and adventure travel. In October 2022 , Blue Origin delivered two BE-4 rocket engines that will be used on the first stage booster of the Vulcan Centaur rocket of the United Launch Alliance (ULA). The company entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with US Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) in November 2022 which allows Blue Origin to compete for the next phase of National Security Space Launch (NSSL). In February 2023 , the company announced its New Glenn rocket has been awarded the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) contract by NASA’s Launch Service Program (LSP) through the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated Rideshare (VADR) program

Funding and financials

In December 2021, Blue Origin received a USD 130 million grant from NASA toward the design of its Orbital Reef Space station.