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SpaceX has 13000 employees and has launched more than 100 orbital rockets into space last year (and they're also manufacturing thousands of satellites and doing

SpaceX has 13000 employees and has launched more than 100 orbital rockets into space last year (and they're also manufacturing thousands of satellites and doing other things). They were able to launch 20 rockets in a year having 5000 employees. ULA is launching couple of rockets a year with 2700 employees. Blue Origin was developing their rocket for the last 10 years and has just launched it for the first time. The whole company doesn't seem to be very efficient.

_fizz_buzz_ 2y ago
I see your point, but going from 0 rocket launches to 1 rocket launch probably takes a lot more work than going from 1 rocket launch to x number of rocket launches.
- oskarkk 2y ago
  Of course, but SpaceX was able to go to 1 orbital rocket launch with 1000 employees in less than 5 years. ULA also has a new rocket. New Glenn is bigger than Falcon 9 or Vulcan, but it certainly could have been developed and built with less people. Blue Origin is bloated because it isn't functioning like a normal company on market, that has to earn money to function, it exists because Bezos has been throwing money at it for 20 years.
  - chii 2y ago
    spacex also couldnt earn money prior to their ability to launch rockets. It's only recently that their successful launches of starlink, and various other satellites earned them any cash.
    - oskarkk 2y ago
      They're successfully launching rockets since 2008 (when they successfully launched small Falcon 1), and started earning big money with Falcon 9 that's flying since 2010. Their biggest customer is NASA, as SpaceX has done over a half of American resupply flights to the ISS (that started in 2012), flying Falcon 9 with their Dragon spacecraft - and these are big contracts, it was $1.6B for 12 flights at the start. Falcon 9 has been sending payloads for many commercial customers since 2013. Since 2020 they're the only American company able to send astronauts to space (at >$200M per flight). Boeing was supposed to be the second option that should be ready around the same time as SpaceX, and they were even awarded more money than SpaceX for development of their spacecraft, but they're not ready yet (which means even more money for SpaceX). By the time SpaceX started sending Starlinks to space frequently, they've already done 70+ launches for various customers. Compare that with Blue Origin that was founded BEFORE SpaceX (in 2000), which launched its first orbital rocket just recently, while SpaceX has launched Falcon 9 rocket 400+ times.
- rdtsc 2y ago
  That’s a fair point however I could see it apply more if they were developing a completely unheard of system, I don’t know some fusion rocket or that whacky centrifuge launch system, but so far it seems they’re going after a traditional design with enough existing research and engineering already around. That’s why people are surprised at their lack of progress.

_fizz_buzz_ 2y ago

I see your point, but going from 0 rocket launches to 1 rocket launch probably takes a lot more work than going from 1 rocket launch to x number of rocket launches.

oskarkk 2y ago
Of course, but SpaceX was able to go to 1 orbital rocket launch with 1000 employees in less than 5 years. ULA also has a new rocket. New Glenn is bigger than Falcon 9 or Vulcan, but it certainly could have been developed and built with less people. Blue Origin is bloated because it isn't functioning like a normal company on market, that has to earn money to function, it exists because Bezos has been throwing money at it for 20 years.
- chii 2y ago
  spacex also couldnt earn money prior to their ability to launch rockets. It's only recently that their successful launches of starlink, and various other satellites earned them any cash.
  - oskarkk 2y ago
    They're successfully launching rockets since 2008 (when they successfully launched small Falcon 1), and started earning big money with Falcon 9 that's flying since 2010. Their biggest customer is NASA, as SpaceX has done over a half of American resupply flights to the ISS (that started in 2012), flying Falcon 9 with their Dragon spacecraft - and these are big contracts, it was $1.6B for 12 flights at the start. Falcon 9 has been sending payloads for many commercial customers since 2013. Since 2020 they're the only American company able to send astronauts to space (at >$200M per flight). Boeing was supposed to be the second option that should be ready around the same time as SpaceX, and they were even awarded more money than SpaceX for development of their spacecraft, but they're not ready yet (which means even more money for SpaceX). By the time SpaceX started sending Starlinks to space frequently, they've already done 70+ launches for various customers. Compare that with Blue Origin that was founded BEFORE SpaceX (in 2000), which launched its first orbital rocket just recently, while SpaceX has launched Falcon 9 rocket 400+ times.
rdtsc 2y ago
That’s a fair point however I could see it apply more if they were developing a completely unheard of system, I don’t know some fusion rocket or that whacky centrifuge launch system, but so far it seems they’re going after a traditional design with enough existing research and engineering already around. That’s why people are surprised at their lack of progress.