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Blue Origin

Coordinates: 47°24′37″N 122°14′15″W / 47.41028°N 122.23750°W / 47.41028; -122.23750
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Blue Origin
Company typePrivate
IndustryAerospace and space tourism
FoundedSeptember 2000
HeadquartersKent, Washington
Key people
Jeff Bezos
Productssuborbital spaceflight
Revenuen/a
Number of employees
3,501 (2021) Edit this on Wikidata
Websitewww.blueorigin.com

Blue Origin is a privately-funded aerospace company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. The company was awarded $3.7 million in funding in 2009 by NASA via a Space Act Agreement under the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program for development of concepts and technologies to support future human spaceflight operations.[1][2] The company's innovative 'pusher' Launch Abort System (LAS) was one of the technologies that was of particular interest to NASA. To date abort systems have been of the so-called tractor variety, which pulls a crew vehicle to safety in case of an emergency.

Initially focused on sub-orbital spaceflight, the company has built and flown a testbed of its New Shepard spacecraft design at their Culberson County, Texas facility. According to company statements, it initially planned on placing the New Shepard in commercial suborbital tourist service in 2010 with flights about once a week.[3] However, the most recently publicized timetable states that Blue Origin will fly unmanned in 2011, and manned in 2012.[4]

History

Since its founding the company - the motto of which is Latin for "Step-by-Step, Ferociously" - has been notoriously tight-lipped about its plans.[3] Although the company was formally incorporated in 2000, its existence only became public in 2003, when Bezos started buying land in Texas and interested parties followed up on the purchases. This was a topic of some interest in local politics,[5] and his rapid aggregation of the lots under a variety of whimsically named shell companies was referred to as a "land grab".[6]

In January 2005, Bezos told the editor of the Van Horn Advocate that Blue Origin is developing a sub-orbital space vehicle that will take off and land vertically and carry three or more astronauts to the edge of space.[7] The spacecraft is based on technology like that used for the McDonnell Douglas DC-X and derivative DC-XA. Bezos told Reuters in November 2004 that his company hopes to progress to orbital spaceflight. As of January 2005, the company's website announced that it hopes to establish an "enduring human presence in space", but the 2007 version talks instead of aiming to "patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system".

Science fiction author Neal Stephenson worked part-time at Blue Origin until November 15, 2006[8] .

Headquarters

The company is headquartered in a warehouse situated on 25 acres (100,000 m2) of industrial land in the Seattle, Washington suburb of Kent, where its research and development is located. The spaceport facility was set up at the "Corn Ranch", a 165,000 acre (670 km²) spread north of Van Horn and 15 miles (24 km) south of the Guadalupe Mountains, nearly 120 miles (190 km) east of El Paso.

New Shepard

During 2006 the company built a prototype of its New Shepard design. The New Shepard is controlled entirely by on-board computers, without ground control. The fuselage is roughly conical, with a rounded base, and roughly bullet-shaped overall. It is powered by a cluster of nine engines powered by high test peroxide (HTP) and RP-1 kerosene, arranged in a 3 by 3 grid on the bottom. Four landing legs containing shock absorbers also extend from the edges of the bottom.

The first example, christened the Goddard, first flew on November 13, 2006. The flight was a complete success, and pictures and movies from the launch form a major part of the company's spartan Web site. However, a second test flight filed for December 2nd never launched.[9][10] Two successful flight tests have been recorded since.

In an interview with Charlie Rose on November 19, 2007, Bezos reported that the construction of a second test vehicle was in progress and that a third development vehicle would be built after that before any commercial flights would begin[11].

Test flights

  • First test flight: 13 November 2006, 06:30 (Goddard)[12]
  • Second test flight: 22 March 2007 (Goddard)[13]
  • Third test flight: 19 April 2007 (Goddard)[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ "NASA Selects Commercial Firms to Begin Development of Crew Transportation Concepts and Technology Demonstrations for Human Spaceflight Using Recovery Act Funds". press release. NASA. Feb. 1, 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Jeff Foust. "Blue Origin proposes orbital vehicle".
  3. ^ a b "BLUE'S ROCKET CLUES". cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com. 2006-06-24. Retrieved 2008-05-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  4. ^ http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/hyperbola/2008/12/whatever-happened-to-blue-orig.html
  5. ^ "BLUE ORIGIN REVEALED". cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com. 2006-11-11. Retrieved 2008-05-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  6. ^ "Buzz in West Texas is about Jeff Bezos space craft launch site". The Wall Street Journal. 2006-11-10. Retrieved 2008-05-28. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Blue Origin Spaceport Plans are Talk of Texas Town". space.com. 2005-03-15. Retrieved 2008-05-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  8. ^ http://web.mac.com/nealstephenson/Neal_Stephensons_Site/Blue_Origin_LLC.html. Retrieved 2009-08-23. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ "BLUE ORIGIN ROCKET REPORT". cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2008-05-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  10. ^ "BLUE ALERT FOR BLASTOFF". cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com. 2006-12-02. Retrieved 2008-05-28. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |name= ignored (help)
  11. ^ Bezos, Jeff (2007-11-19). "A conversation with Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos". charlierose.com. Retrieved 2008-06-10. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help).
  12. ^ Graczyk, Michael (2006-11-14). "Private space firm launches 1st test rocket". Associated Press. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
  13. ^ Boyle, Alan (2007-03-23). "Rocket Revelations". MSNBC. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
  14. ^ "Recently Completed/Historical Launch Data". FAA AST. Retrieved 2008-02-03.

47°24′37″N 122°14′15″W / 47.41028°N 122.23750°W / 47.41028; -122.23750

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