Blue Origin, founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, is an American aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company. It develops reusable rocket engines, launch vehicles like New Shepard and New Glenn, in-space systems, and lunar landers such as Blue Moon. Blue Origin is also a NASA partner, collaborating on the Artemis program for lunar exploration and working towards a sustainable human presence on the Moon, with partners like Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Draper. Key activities include space tourism, satellite deployment capabilities, and advancing technologies to lower space travel costs.
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Blue Origin plans to start launching astronauts using New Shepard 2019.
Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, and Northrop Grumman were recipients of U.S. Air Force funding last year collectively worth roughly $2,000,000,000 to develop rockets capable of launching military satellites.
Blue Origin signed a multi-launch agreement with Telesat to launch Telesat’s Low Earth Orbit satellite constellation.
United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems collectively received $2,300,000,000 in Air Force funding to ensure their domestically produced commercial rockets can meet national security launch requirements.
Blue Origin held a groundbreaking ceremony in Huntsville, Alabama on 2019-01-25 to mark the start of construction of a factory for building BE-4 engines.
Blue Origin and NASA Marshall signed a Space Act Agreement in July 2018 to cover suitability analysis and preliminary facility preparations for potential use of the test stand.
Blue Origin will complete development of its BE-4 engine later 2019.
Blue Origin plans to invest over $200,000,000 in the Huntsville engine production facility.
United Launch Alliance selected Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine in September 2018 to power the ULA Vulcan rocket.
The United States Air Force selected both Blue Origin’s New Glenn launch vehicle and ULA’s Vulcan rocket in October 2018 under its Launch Services Agreement contract.
Blue Origin plans to open the Huntsville engine production facility in March 2020.
Blue Origin announced plans in June 2017 to build a BE-4 engine factory in Huntsville contingent on United Launch Alliance selecting the engine for its Vulcan rocket.
The Huntsville factory will build dozens of BE-4 engines per year for both ULA’s Vulcan and Blue Origin’s New Glenn vehicles.
Blue Origin will install a new version of the BE-4 engine at its West Texas test site with plans to test to 100 percent power.
Blue Origin is building initial versions of the BE-4 engine at its headquarters in Kent, Washington.
Blue Origin is working on an agreement with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to take over Building 4670 for acceptance testing of the BE-3U and BE-4 engines.
Blue Origin’s total company investment in the Huntsville facility will exceed $200,000,000.
Blue Origin is testing BE-4 engines at a test site in West Texas where it also conducts New Shepard test flights.
Blue Origin will use the Huntsville factory to produce the BE-3U engine, a liquid-hydrogen/liquid-oxygen version of the BE-3 modified for New Glenn’s second stage.
Blue Origin’s New Shepard launched on its tenth test flight designated NS-10 on 2019-01-23.