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>I love how Bezos' company is never mentioned in these discussions. This is a good point. Not much is said about Blue Origin. Perhaps because they're overshado

>I love how Bezos' company is never mentioned in these discussions. This is a good point. Not much is said about Blue Origin. Perhaps because they're overshadowed by SpaceX? But Bezos is launching rockets. * Their New Glenn rocket is reusable and can launch 45 tons, focusing on the commercial satellite launch market. First launch in Spring of '25. * New Shepard is more like a tourist transport, delivering passengers to the edge of space. They have completed 26 missions so far. * They're working on Blue Moon, which is a lunar lander designed to be part of Nasa's Artemis program. Here's a video of Bezos talking about (and showing) the first New Glenn rocket being prepared for launch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8SlfmpKM4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu8SlfmpKM4 Disclaimer: I don't work for Bezos PR. I know very little about Blue Origin except what I learned from that video and what I got from ChatGPT.

marcosdumay 2y ago
Did Blue Origin manage to reach orbit already? They are usually ignored because they seem to be at least a decade away from any practical application, and kept being that decade away for at least the last entire decade. But if this changed, than yeah, people should stop ignoring it.
- m348e912 2y ago
  They have launched New Shepard 26 times, carrying passengers just above the Kármán line, which is about 62 miles above earth. The rocket in the video I linked to is New Glenn (a heavy payload rocket) and its first launch will be in Spring 25
  - tempaway75647 2y ago
    which is about 62 miles above earth But 'reaching orbit' isn't really about height, its more about speed
  - marcosdumay 2y ago
    To be fair, they are working on a lot of the advanced problems before they get the basics. So they may be closer to a practical application than it looks. But they didn't get the basics. Getting high up into space is much, much easier than reaching orbit. To the point it's a qualitatively different problem.
  - tekla 2y ago
    Yes. The point being they don't have a orbital vehicle yet
- imtringued 2y ago
  Their pace significantly accelerated since the original tweet where they showed a fully assembled pathfinder vehicle on the launch pad. Before that tweet I thought Blue Origin was way behind. Now they are at most a year away from having a successful rocket and two years away from a moon landing with their prototype MK1 moon lander. At the current pace it is not unthinkable that Artemis 3 and 5 could happen a year apart.

marcosdumay 2y ago

Did Blue Origin manage to reach orbit already? They are usually ignored because they seem to be at least a decade away from any practical application, and kept being that decade away for at least the last entire decade. But if this changed, than yeah, people should stop ignoring it.

m348e912 2y ago
They have launched New Shepard 26 times, carrying passengers just above the Kármán line, which is about 62 miles above earth. The rocket in the video I linked to is New Glenn (a heavy payload rocket) and its first launch will be in Spring 25
- tempaway75647 2y ago
  which is about 62 miles above earth But 'reaching orbit' isn't really about height, its more about speed
- marcosdumay 2y ago
  To be fair, they are working on a lot of the advanced problems before they get the basics. So they may be closer to a practical application than it looks. But they didn't get the basics. Getting high up into space is much, much easier than reaching orbit. To the point it's a qualitatively different problem.
- tekla 2y ago
  Yes. The point being they don't have a orbital vehicle yet
imtringued 2y ago
Their pace significantly accelerated since the original tweet where they showed a fully assembled pathfinder vehicle on the launch pad. Before that tweet I thought Blue Origin was way behind. Now they are at most a year away from having a successful rocket and two years away from a moon landing with their prototype MK1 moon lander. At the current pace it is not unthinkable that Artemis 3 and 5 could happen a year apart.