Blue Origin

A pension fund is suing Amazon over its contract to launch Kuiper satellites on Blue Origin, ULA, and Arianespace rockets because SpaceX was not included in the discussion. The suit argues that Bezos’ rivalry with Elon Musk created contracts that did not best meet the company’s fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders.

In an Instagram post, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has granted us a rare glimpse into its Florida factory, showcasing the ongoing endeavors of the company. So, what insights does the photograph offer?

Last Thursday, Virgin Galactic successfully launched its first group of commercial customers into space aboard its SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane, named VSS Unity. This achievement occurred approximately one month after its previous flight. With Virgin Galactic now a significant player in the field, the question arises: Can they outpace Blue Origin in the realm of space tourism?

Congress appears to be pushing the Space Force to add a third winner in the force’s National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 2 contract. This move could potentially bring significant financial opportunities to a fortunate company, offering them a chance to become a major player in the space industry alongside ULA and SpaceX.

Last week NASA announced several partnerships with commercial companies that will provide NASA personnel and expertise to them as they work to develop new technologies. Most of them have to do with commercial space stations, but one stood out: Blue Origin’s crewed spacecraft.

Friday morning, NASA announced that the Blue Origin-led team won NASA’s contract to be the agency’s second Human Landing System for Artemis crewed missions to the Moon. Right now, its first Crewed mission is set to be Artemis 5 in 2029.

Blue Origin has been silently working on its next launch vehicle New Glenn for years now and we may be close to seeing its first launch in 2024. As it does with its New Shepard rocket, the company plans on recovering the first stage booster for reuse. While this plan has changed some, scrapping the boat Blue initially intended to land on, recovery of the first stage is still a major part of the New Glenn system. We previously noted on Twitter that Blue Origin had acquired a building complex within Port Canaveral, formerly used by SpaceX, and we now understand that it plans to base its recovery operations there. Now, a new permit shows the next area of the port Blue is looking to call home as it inches closer to the first New Glenn launch.

Last September, Blue Origin suffered an inflight failure of an uncrewed New Shepard rocket. Friday, the company released its findings from its investigation into the failure.

After years of trying, Blue Origin has finally been able to secure a launch task order through NASA for its New Glenn rocket, and it’s going to Mars!

Remember in 2021 when we were so excited that both Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic would come online and show a glimpse of a potential space tourism boom? Yet here we are with some exciting news, but neither company is currently capable of launching, and we don’t know when they will return fully. Sigh.

Back in March, NASA announced it would seek to award a contract to purchase a second lunar lander for the Artemis Program. We’re seeing many similar faces return with bids for NASA’s money, including Blue Origin with a revised National Team of other notable aerospace contractors.

This week, Seth and Jared discuss what happened during Blue Origin’s mid-flight abort, the new Artemis 1 launch date, and more space news.

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On Blue Origin’s 23rd flight of New Shepard, NS-23, the uncrewed capsule ignited its abort system to get clear from the New Shepard rocket as flame appeared around the rocket main engine as the rocket crossed 28,000 feet.

Coby Cotton, one of the five members of Dude Perfect, launched on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket early Thursday morning. Cotton’s participation is part of a partnership between the trick shooting YouTubers and a crypto company called MoonDAO.

United Launch Alliance is preparing for the debut flight of its next generation rocket called Vulcan. There are certain developments to follow, however, while the first mission date awaits hardware readiness.