 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Space |
| Founded | September 8, 2000; 25 years ago (2000-09-08) |
| Founder | Jeff Bezos |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 11 (4 production facilities & 7 field offices) |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Dave Limp (CEO) |
| Products | New Shepard New Glenn Blue Moon Blue Ring Orbital Reef |
| Owner | Jeff Bezos |
Number of employees | 11,000 (2023)[1] |
| Subsidiaries | Honeybee Robotics |
| ASN | 55244 |
| Website | blueorigin.com |
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is a private Americanspace technology company headquartered inKent, Washington. The company operates the suborbitalNew Shepard rocket and the heavy-liftNew Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own rockets, Blue Origin supplies engines for other vehicles, including United Launch Alliance'sVulcan Centaur. It is also working on theBlue Moon human lunar lander forNASA'sArtemis program, theBlue Ring spacecraft platform, and theOrbital Reef space station in partnership with other organizations.
Founded in 2000 byJeff Bezos, Blue Origin initially operated with avery low profile, funded by Bezos's private investments. In 2015, the company achieved a significant milestone with the first uncrewed launch and landing of the New Shepard and announced plans for New Glenn. In 2021, New Shepard completed its first crewed mission with Bezos himself on board, crossing theKármán line, the conventional definition of the edge of space, 100 kilometers (62 mi) above sea level. Another key achievement came in January 2023 when the company delivered its firstBE-4 rocket engine to United Launch Alliance.[2] Despite these milestones, Blue Origin has faced criticism for its perceived slow progress, particularly when compared toSpaceX. Addressing these challenges, the company underwent a leadership change in September 2023, appointingDave Limp as CEO to succeed Bob Smith.[3]
On January 16, 2025, Blue Origin reached orbit with the first launch of the New Glenn vehicle.[4] On April 14, 2025, Blue Origin completed its 11th human spaceflight and its 31st spaceflight for the New Shepard Program with an all-female crew of six.[5]
The company was founded in 2000 byJeff Bezos, the founder ofAmazon.[6][7]Rob Meyerson joined the company in 2003 and served as the CEO before leaving the company in 2018.[8] Bob Smith served as CEO from 2018 to 2023.[9] The current CEO is Dave Limp.[10] Little is known about the company's activities in its early years. In 2006, the company purchased land for itsNew Shepard missions 30 miles north ofVan Horn, Texas, United States calledLaunch Site One (LS1). In November 2006, the first test vehicle was launched, the Goddard rocket, which reached an altitude of 285 feet.[11]
After initiating the development of an orbital rocket system prior to 2012, and stating in 2013 on their website that the first stage would perform a powered vertical landing and be reusable, the company publicly announced their orbitallaunch vehicle intentions in September 2015. In January 2016, the company indicated that the new rocket would be many times larger thanNew Shepard. The company publicly released the high-level design of the vehicle and announced its name in September 2016 as "New Glenn". TheNew Glennheavy-lift launch vehicle can be configured in bothtwo-stage andthree-stage variants.New Glenn first successfully launched in January, 2025.[12]
On July 20, 2021,New Shepard performed itsfirst crewed mission to sub-orbital space calledBlue Origin NS-16. The flight lasted approximately 10 minutes and crossed theKármán line. The passengers wereJeff Bezos, his brotherMark Bezos,Wally Funk, andOliver Daemen, after the unnamed auction winner (later revealed to have beenJustin Sun) dropped out due to a scheduling conflict. Subsequent New Shepard passenger and cargo missions were:Blue Origin NS-17,Blue Origin NS-18,Blue Origin NS-19,Blue Origin NS-20,Blue Origin NS-21 andBlue Origin NS-23.[13]
The company primarily employs an incremental approach fromsub-orbital toorbital flight,[14] with each developmental step building on its prior work. The company moved into theorbital spaceflight technologydevelopment business in 2014, initially as arocket engine supplier via a contractual agreement to build theBE-4 rocket engine, for major US launch system operatorUnited Launch Alliance (ULA).United Launch Alliance (ULA) has said that the first flight of itsVulcan Centaurheavy-lift launch vehicle is scheduled to launch in Q4 of 2023. Theheavy-lift launch vehicles main power is supported by twoBE-4 engines. On June 7, 2023,United Launch Alliance (ULA) performed a Flight Readiness Firing of theVulcan Centaurrocket at launch pad 41 at theCape Canaveral Space Force Station inCape Canaveral, Florida, United States. The twoBE-4rocket engines worked as expected.[15]
In 2024, the company won its firstNational Security Space Launch (NSSL) contract. The New Glenn vehicle is to be used on the launches.[16]
On November 13, 2025 launched its first NASA mission,ESCAPADE, deploying two NASA science satellites to study Mars' atmosphere. The company utilized its New Glenn rocket and successfully landed the booster on a bargeLanding Platform Vessel 1 namedJacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean.[17]
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New Shepard is afully reusablesuborbitallaunch vehicle developed forspace tourism. The vehicle is named afterAlan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space. The vehicle is capable ofvertical takeoff and landings and can carry humans and customer payloads to theedge of space.[18]
The New Shepard is arocket that consists of abooster rocket and a crew capsule. The capsule can be configured to house up to sixpassengers,cargo, or a combination of both. Thebooster rocket is powered by oneBE-3PM engine, which sends the capsule to an apogee (Sub-Orbital) of 100.5 kilometres (62.4 mi) and flies above theKármán line, where passengers and cargo can experience a few minutes ofweightlessness before the capsule returns toEarth.[19][20]
The launch vehicle is designed to be fully reusable, with the capsule returning to Earth via threeparachutes and asolid rocket motor. The booster lands vertically on the same launchpad it took off from. The company has successfully launched and landed theNew Shepardlaunch vehicle 26 times with 1 partial failure (deemed successful) and 1 failure. The launch vehicle has a length of 19.2 metres (63 ft), a diameter of 3.8 metres (12 ft) and a launch mass of 75 short tons (150,000 lb; 68,000 kg). TheBE-3PM engine produces 490 kN of thrust attakeoff. The New Shepard allows the company to significantly reduce the cost ofspace tourism.[21][22]
On the morning of February 25, 2025, Blue Origin launched its 10th space tourism mission and sent six paying passengers to suborbital space. This was the company's tenth human flight, and its 30th overall flight of New Shepard.[23]
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New Glenn is aheavy-liftlaunch vehicle, first successfully launched in January 2025.[12] The initial launch date had been set back by numerous delays. Named afterNASAastronautJohn Glenn, design work on the vehicle began in early 2012. Illustrations of the vehicle, and the high-level specifications, were initially publicly unveiled in September 2016. The full vehicle was first unveiled on a launch pad on February 21, 2024.[24] Therocket has a diameter of 7 meters (23 ft), and its first stage is powered by sevenBE-4 engines. The fairing is claimed to have twice the payload volume of "any commercial launch system" and to be the biggestpayload fairing in the world.[25]
Like theNew Shepard, New Glenn's first stage is also designed to bereusable. In 2021, the company initiated conceptual design work on approaches to potentially make the second stage reusable as well, with the project codenamed "Project Jarvis".[26]
In 2024, Blue Origin received funding from theUSSF to assess New Glenn's ability to launch national security payloads.[27] On January 16, 2025, Blue Origin achieved its first successful launch of New Glenn fromCape Canaveral Space Force Station'sLaunch Complex 36.[28] The mission's primary objective was to deploy the Blue Ring Pathfinder test satellite, which was successfully placed into orbit.[29]
NASA announced in February 2023 that it had selected the New Glennheavy-lift launch vehicle for the launch of twoEscape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) spacecraft. The New Glenn heavy-lift launch vehicle launched ESCAPADE[30][31] on 13 November 2025 with the ESCAPADEspacecraft enteringMars's orbit approximately one year after launch, and the first stage booster returning successfully.[32][33]
In May 2019, Bezos unveiled plans for a crew-capablelunar lander namedBlue Moon.[34] The lander is designed to transport up to 3,600 kilograms (7,900 lb) to the lunar surface in its standard configuration, while a stretched-tank variant can carry up to 6,500 kilograms (14,300 lb). Both versions are engineered for soft landings on the Moon.
In 2020, Blue Origin, in collaboration withLockheed Martin,Northrop Grumman, andDraper, submitted the Blue Moon lunar lander proposal for NASA's Artemis program. After NASA awarded the human landing system (HLS) contract to SpaceX in 2021 for itsStarship HLS, Blue Origincontested the decision. This challenge ultimately led to NASA awarding a separate contract for Blue Moon in 2023.
The lander is powered by theBE-7hydrolox engine.[35] On May 19, 2023, NASA contracted Blue Origin to develop, test, and deploy the Blue Moon landing system for the Artemis V mission. This mission will support lunar exploration and lay the groundwork for future crewed missions to Mars. The $3.4 billion contract includes an uncrewed test mission followed by a crewed Moon landing planned for 2029.[36][37]
In mid-2024, Blue Origin announced the successful completion of initial acceptance testing on the thrusters for the MK1 variant of the Blue Moon lander.[38]
Blue Origin's first engine is a "simple, single-propellant engine" called the Blue Engine-1 (BE-1) which usesperoxide propellant and generates 8.9 kN (2,000 lbf) ofthrust.[39]
The Blue Engine-2 (BE-2) which is a bipropellant engine usingkerosene and peroxide, produces 140 kN (31,000 lbf) of thrust.[39]
TheBE-3 is a family of rocket engines made by Blue Origin with two variants, the BE-3U and BE-3PM. The rocket engine is aliquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen (LH2/LOX)cryogenic engine that can produce 490 kN (110,000 lbf) and 710 kN (160,000 lbf) of thrust, respectively. Early thrust chamber testing began atNASA Stennis[40] in 2013.[41] By late 2013, theBE-3 had been successfully tested on a full-durationsub-orbital burn, with simulated coast phases and engine relights, "demonstrating deep throttle, full power, long-duration andreliable restart all in a single-test sequence."[42] NASA has released a video of the test.[41] As of December 2013[update], the engine had demonstrated more than 160 starts and 9,100 seconds (2.5 h) of operation at the company's test facility nearVan Horn, Texas.[42][43]
The BE-4 is aliquid oxygen/liquified natural gas (LOX/LNG) rocket engine that can produce 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) of thrust.[45]
In late 2014, the company signed an agreement withUnited Launch Alliance (ULA) to develop the BE-4 engine, for ULA'supgradedAtlas V andVulcan Centaur rockets replacing theRD-180 Russian-made rocket engine. The newly developed heavy-lift launch vehicle will use two of the 2,400 kN (550,000 lbf) BE-4 engines on eachfirst stage. The engine development program for the BE-4 began in 2011.[46]
On October 31, 2022, a Twitter post by the official Blue Origin account announced that the first two BE-4 engines had been delivered to ULA and were being integrated on a Vulcan rocket. In a later tweet, ULA CEOTory Bruno said that one of the engines had already been installed on the booster, and that the other would be joining it momentarily.[47] On June 7, 2023, the two BE-4 rocket engines performed as expected when ULA performed a Flight Readiness Firing of the Vulcan Rocket at launch pad 41 at theCape Canaveral Space Force Station inCape Canaveral, Florida.[48][49]
Vulcan Centaur launched for the first time on January 8, 2024, successfully carryingAstrobotic Technology'sPeregrine lunar lander, the first mission on NASA'sCommercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program using the BE-4 engine.[50]
The BE-7 engine is a liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogendual expander cycle engine currently under development, designed for use onBlue Moon.[51] The engine produces 44 kN (10,000 lbf) of thrust. Its first ignition tests were performed in June 2019, with thrust chamber assembly testing continuing through 2023.[52]
The company partnered withAerojet Rocketdyne todevelop a pusherlaunch escape system for theNew Shepard suborbital crew capsule. Aerojet Rocketdyne provides the Crew Capsule EscapeSolid Rocket Motor (CCE SRM) while thethrust vector control system that steers the capsule during an abort is designed and manufactured by Blue Origin.[53][54]
The company has facilities across the United States, which include five main locations and five field offices:[55]
The company's headquarters is inKent, Washington. Rocket development takes place at its headquarters. The company has continued to expand itsSeattle-area offices and rocket production facilities since 2016, purchasing an adjacent 11,000 m2 (120,000 sq ft)-building.[56] In 2017, the company filed permits to build a new 21,900 m2 (236,000 sq ft) warehouse complex and an additional 9,560 m2 (102,900 sq ft) of office space.[57] The company established a new headquarters and R&D facility, called the O'Neill Building on June 6, 2020.[58][59]
Corn Ranch, commonly referred to as Launch Site One (LSO[dubious –discuss][failed verification]) is the company's launch site 30 miles (48 km) north ofVan Horn, Texas.[60]
The site hosts the company's sub-orbital launch pad for its New Shepard rocket along with a landing pad. Additionally, LSO has a number ofrocket engine test stands and engine test cells are to support thehydrolox,methalox andstorable propellant engines. There are three test cells for the BE-3 and BE-4 engines. The test cells support full-thrust and full-duration burns, and one supports short-duration, high-pressurepreburner tests.
Engine production is located inHuntsville, Alabama, at a 600,000-square-foot (56,000 m2) facility called, "Blue Engine". The company's Web site states, "The world-class engine manufacturing facility in The Rocket City conduct[s] high rate production of the BE-4 and BE-3U engines.
The company is planning a third major expansion in Huntsville and the company purchased 14.83 acres (6 ha) adjacent to its already sprawling campus at the price of $1.427 million.[61]
The Orbital Launch Site (OLS) at theCape Canaveral Space Force Station, develops rockets and conducts extensive testing. The company convertedLaunch Complex 36 (LC-36) to launchNew Glenn into orbit[62] atCape Canaveral Space Force Station. The facility was initially completed in 2020 and is being used for the construction of New Glenn prototypes, rocket testing, and designs.[63]
The company facility is situated on 306 acres (124 ha) of land assembled from the former Launch complexes11,12, 36A and 36B. The land parcel used to build a rocket engine test stand for the BE-4 engine, a launch mount, called the Orbital Launch Site, (hence its name) and a reusableboosterrefurbishment facility for the New Glenn launch vehicle, which is expected to land on adrone ship and return toPort Canaveral for refurbishment. Manufacturing of "large elements, such as New Glenn's first and second stages as well as thepayload fairings and other large components will be made nearby inExploration Park, which is near the entrance to theKennedy Space Center Visitor Complex onMerritt Island, Florida.[64]
In addition to their Florida operations, they have also been leased the greenfield ofSpace Launch Complex 9 (SLC-9) atVandenberg Space Force Base, where they plan to construct a New Glenn launch pad to give the launch vehiclepolar orbit andSun-synchronous orbit capabilities.[65]
The Blue Ring vehicle was announced in October 2023 by Blue Origin. It will have its own engine and is meant to handle orbital logistics and delivery. In March 2024, in partnership with theUnited States Space Force, it was announced that the Blue Ring's capabilities will be tested soon on a mission called DarkSky-1.[66]
The company and its partnersSierra Space,Boeing,Redwire Space and Genesis Engineering Solutions won a $130 million award to jump-start the design of their Orbital Reef commercial space station. The project is envisioned as an expandable business park, with Boeing'sStarliner and Sierra Space'sDream Chaser transporting passengers to and fromlow Earth orbit (LEO) fortourism, research and in-space manufacturing projects.[67]
Orbital Reef's design will be modular in nature, to provide the greatest amount of customization and compatibility. It will reportedly be designed to accept docking from almost every spacecraft in operation, such asSpaceX Dragon 2,Soyuz (spacecraft),Dream Chaser, andBoeing Starliner. The initial modules will be: Life, Node, Core, and Research Modules.[68]
In 2024 NASA increased funding for Orbital Reef by $42 million, bringing the total award to $172 million.[69]
NASA plans to testspacecraft, engines and other propellent systems powered bynuclear fission no later than 2027 as part of the agency's effort to demonstrate more efficient methods of traveling through outer space forspace exploration.[70] One benefit to usingnuclear fission as a propellent for spacecraft is that nuclear-based systems can have less mass than solar cells which means aspacecraft could be smaller while using the same amount of energy more efficiently.Nuclear fission concepts that can power both life support and propulsion systems could greatly reduce the cost and flight time during space exploration.[71]
TheDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency awardedGeneral Atomics,Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin contracts to fund and buildnuclear spacecraft under the agency'sDemonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations program or DRACO program. The company was awarded $2.9 million to developspacecraft component designs.[72]
In partnership with Blue Origin, Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation,GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy,GE Research,Framatome andMaterion, USNC-Tech won a $5 million contract fromNASA and theU.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a long range nuclear propulsion system called the Power Adjusted Demonstration Mars Engine, or PADME.[73]
NASA awarded $35 million to the company in 2023 for the company's work onlunar regolith to be used for solar powered systems on the moon. The company's website states that "Blue Alchemist is a proposed end-to-end, scalable, autonomous, and commercial solution that produces solar cells from lunar regolith, which is the dust and crushed rock abundant on the surface of the Moon. Based on a process called molten regolith electrolysis, the breakthrough would bootstrap unlimited electricity and power transmission cables anywhere on the surface of the Moon. This process also produces oxygen as a useful byproduct for propulsion and life support."
Gary Lai, chief architect of the New Shepard rocket said during the pathfinder awards at the Seattle Museum of Flight that [The company] "aims to be the first company that harvests natural resources from the Moon to use here on Earth". He also mentioned that the company is building a novel approach to extract outer space's vast resources.
In 2025, Blue Origin achieved orbital spaceflight with the maiden launch ofNew Glenn. Below is a list of all Blue Origin flights before 2025. For list of flights performed after 1 January 2025 see the articles ofNew Glenn andNew Shepard where they are listed.
1 2 3 4 5 6 2005 2010 2015 2020 2024
|  |
In the chart below, ♺ means "Flight Proven Booster".
| Flight No. | Date | Vehicle | Apogee | Outcome | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 5, 2005 | Charon | 315 ft (0.05 mi) | Success | Test Flight |
| 2 | November 13, 2006 | Goddard | 279 ft (0.05 mi) | Success | First rocket-powered test flight[74] |
| 3 | March 22, 2007 | Goddard♺[75] | N/A | Success | Test Flight |
| 4 | April 19, 2007 | Goddard ♺[76] | N/A | Success | Test Flight |
| 5 | May 6, 2011 | PM2 (Propulsion Module)[77] | N/A | Success | Test Flight |
| 6 | August 24, 2011 | PM2 (Propulsion Module) ♺ | N/A | Failure | Test Flight |
| 7 | October 19, 2012 | New Shepard capsule | N/A | Success | Pad escape test flight[78] |
| 8 | April 29, 2015 | New Shepard 1 | 307,000 ft (58 mi) | Partial success | Flight to altitude 93.5 km, capsulerecovered,booster crashed on landing[79] |
| 9 | November 23, 2015 | New Shepard 2 | 329,839 ft (62 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing[80] |
| 10 | January 22, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | 333,582 ft (63 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster[81] |
| 11 | April 2, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | 339,178 ft (64 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster[82] |
| 12 | June 19, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | 331,501 ft (63 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster: The fourth launch and landing of the same rocket. The company published a live webcast of the takeoff and landing.[83] |
| 13 | October 5, 2016 | New Shepard 2 ♺ | Booster: 307,458 ft (58 mi) Capsule: 23,269 ft (4 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster. Successful test of the in-flight abort system. The fifth and final launch and landing of the same rocket (NS2).[84] |
| 14 | December 12, 2017 | New Shepard 3 | Booster: 322,032 ft (61 mi) Capsule: 322,405 ft (61 mi) | Success | Flight to just under 100 km and landing. The first launch of NS3 and a new Crew Capsule 2.0.[85] |
| 15 | April 29, 2018 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 351,000 ft (66 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster.[86] |
| 16 | July 18, 2018 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 389,846 ft (74 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital spaceflight and landing of a reused booster, with the Crew Capsule 2.0–1RSS H.G.Wells, carrying amannequin. Successful test of the in-flight abort system at high altitude. Flight duration was 11 minutes.[87] |
| 17 | January 23, 2019 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 351,000 ft (66 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital flight, delayed from December 18, 2018. Eight NASA research and technology payloads were flown.[88][89] |
| 18 | May 2, 2019 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 346,000 ft (65 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital flight. Max Ascent Velocity: 2,217 mph (3,568 km/h),[90] duration: 10 minutes, 10 seconds. Payload: 38 microgravity research payloads (nine sponsored by NASA). |
| 19 | December 11, 2019 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 343,000 ft (64 mi) | Success | Sub-orbital flight, Payload: Multiple commercial, research (8 sponsored by NASA) and educational payloads, including postcards fromClub for the Future.[91][92][93] |
| 20 | October 13, 2020 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 346,000 ft (65 mi) | Success | 7th flight of the same capsule/booster. Onboard 12 payloads include Space Lab Technologies, Southwest Research Institute, postcards and seeds for Club for the Future, and multiple payloads for NASA including SPLICE to test future lunar landing technologies in support of theArtemis program[94] |
| 21 | January 14, 2021 | New Shepard 4 | 350,858 ft (66 mi) | Success | Uncrewed qualification flight for NS4 rocket and "RSS First Step" capsule and maiden flight for NS4.[95] |
| 22 | April 14, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 348,753 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-15. 2nd flight of NS4 with Astronaut Rehearsal.Gary Lai, Susan Knapp, Clay Mowry, and Audrey Powers, all Blue Origin personnel, are "stand-in astronauts". Lai and Powers briefly get in.[96] |
| 23 | July 20, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,210 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-16. First crewed flight. Crew:Jeff Bezos,Mark Bezos,Wally Funk, andOliver Daemen.[97] |
| 24 | August 26, 2021[98] | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 347,434 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-17. Payload mission consisting of 18 commercial payloads inside the crew capsule, a NASA lunar landing technology demonstration installed on the exterior of the booster and an art installation installed on the exterior of the crew capsule.[99] |
| 25 | October 13, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 341,434 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-18. Second crewed flight. Crew:Audrey Powers, Chris Boshuizen,Glen de Vries, andWilliam Shatner.[100] |
| 26 | December 11, 2021 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-19. Third crewed flight. Crew: Laura Shepard Churchley,Michael Strahan,Dylan Taylor, Evan Dick,Lane Bess, and Cameron Bess.[101] |
| 27 | March 31, 2022 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-20. Fourth crewed flight. Crew: Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle,Jim Kitchen, George Nield, andGary Lai.[102] |
| 28 | June 4, 2022 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-21. Fifth crewed flight. Crew: Evan Dick,Katya Echazarreta,Hamish Harding, Victor Correa Hespanha,Jaison Robinson, andVictor Vescovo.[103] |
| 29 | August 4, 2022 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 351,050 ft (66 mi) | Success | NS-22. Sixth crewed flight. Crew:Coby Cotton,Mário Ferreira,Vanessa O'Brien, Clint Kelly III,Sara Sabry, and Steve Young.[104] |
| 30 | September 12, 2022 | New Shepard 3 ♺ | 37,402 ft (7 mi) | Failure | NS-23. Uncrewed flight with commercial payloads onboard. A booster failure triggered thelaunch escape system during flight, and the capsule landed successfully. The Blue Origin incident investigation found that a thermal-structural failure occurred on the BE-3 nozzle leading to the launch failure.[105] |
| 31 | December 19, 2023 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | 107.060 km (66.5242 mi) | Success | NS-24. Successful return to flight mission following failure of NS-23 more than a year prior. 33 payloads and 38,000 Club for the Future postcards from students around the world.[106] |
| 32 | 19 May 2024[107] | New Shepard 4 ♺ | c. 106 km[108] | Success | NS-25. Seventh crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included:Kenneth Hess, Sylvain Chiron, Mason Angel,Ed Dwight, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura |
| 33 | 29 August 2024 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 105.3 km (65.4 mi) | Success | NS-26. Eighth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included: Ephraim Rabin, Nicolina Elrick, Eugene Grin, Rob Ferl, Karsen Kitchen,Eiman Jahangir |
| 34 | 23 October 2024 | New Shepard 5 | Capsule 101 km (63 mi) | Success | NS-27. First flight of Propulsion ModuleNS5 and capsule RSSKármán Line. 12 payloads and tens of thousands of Club for the Future postcards. |
| 35 | 22 November 2024 | New Shepard 4 ♺ | Capsule 105.3 km (65.4 mi) | Success | NS-28. Ninth crewed New Shepard flight. Crew of six included:Emily Calandrelli,Sharon Hagle,Marc Hagle, Austin Litteral, James (J.D.) Russell, Henry (Hank) Wolfond |
The company has contracted to do work forNASA on several development efforts. The company was awarded $3.7 million in funding byNASA in 2009 via aSpace Act Agreement[109][110] under thefirstCommercial Crew Development (CCDev) program for development of concepts and technologies to support future humanspaceflight operations.[111][112]NASA co-funded risk-mitigation activities related to ground testing of (1) an innovative 'pusher' escape system, that lowers cost by being reusable and enhances safety by avoiding the jettison event of a traditional 'tractor' Launch Escape System, and (2) an innovative composite pressure vessel cabin that both reduces weight and increases safety of astronauts.[109] This was later revealed to be a part of a larger system, designed for a bionic capsule, that would be launched atop anAtlas V rocket.[113] On November 8, 2010, it was announced that the company had completed all milestones under its CCDev Space Act Agreement.[114]
In April 2011, The company received a commitment fromNASA for $22 million of funding under theCCDev phase 2 program.[115] Milestones included (1) performing a Mission Concept Review (MCR) and System Requirements Review (SRR) on the orbital Space Vehicle, which utilizes a bionic shape to optimize its launch profile and atmospheric reentry, (2) further maturing the pusher escape system, including ground and flight tests, and (3) accelerating development of its BE-3 LOX/LH2 440 kN (100,000 lbf) engine through full-scale thrust chamber testing.[116]
In 2012,NASA's Commercial Crew Program released its follow-on CCiCap solicitation for the development of crew delivery toISS by 2017. The company did not submit a proposal for CCiCap, but reportedly continued work on its development program with private funding.[117] The company had a failed attempt to lease a different part of theSpace Coast, when they submitted a bid in 2013 to leaseLaunch Complex 39A (LC39A) at theKennedy Space Center – on land to the north of, and adjacent to,Cape Canaveral AFS – followingNASA's decision to lease the unused complex out as part of a bid to reduce annual operation and maintenance costs. The companies bid was for shared and non-exclusive use of the LC39A complex such that the launchpad was to have been able to interface with multiplevehicles, and costs for using the launch pad were to have been shared across multiple companies over the term of the lease. One potential shared user in the companies proposed plan wasUnited Launch Alliance (ULA).Commercial use of the LC39A launch complex was awarded toSpaceX, which submitted a bid for exclusive use of the launch complex to support theircrewed missions.[118]
The company completed work forNASA on several small development contracts, receiving total funding of $25.7 million by 2013.[109][115] In September 2013 – before completion of the bid period, and before any public announcement byNASA of the results of the process –Florida Today reported that the company had filed a protest with theU.S.General Accounting Office (GAO) "over what it says is a plan by NASA to award an exclusive commercial lease toSpaceX for use of mothballed space shuttle launch pad 39A".[119]NASA had originally planned to complete the bid award and have the pad transferred by October 1, 2013, but the protest delayed a decision until theU.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) reached a decision on the protest.[119][120]SpaceX said that they would be willing to support a multi-user arrangement for pad 39A.[121] In December 2013, theU.S.General Accounting Office (GAO) denied the companies protest and sided withNASA, which argued that the solicitation contained no preference on the use of the facility as either multi-use or single-use. "The [solicitation] document merely [asked] bidders to explain their reasons for selecting one approach instead of the other and how they would manage the facility".[120]NASA selected theSpaceX proposal in late 2013 and signed a 20-year lease contract for Launch Pad 39A toSpaceX in April 2014.[122]
The company placed their first bid via theNASA Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) competition to fund and develop a lunar lander capable of transportingastronauts to and from the lunar surface. The Blue Origin led team called the "National Team" included,Lockheed Martin,Northrop Grumman, andDraper. On April 30, 2020, the company and its partners won a $579 million contract to start developing and testing an integrated Human Landing System (HLS) for theArtemis program to return humans to theMoon.[123][124] However, the Blue Origin led team lost their first bid to work forNASA's Artemis program and on April 16, 2021,NASA officially selected theSpace Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) to develop, test and build their version of the Human Landing System (HLS) forArtemis missions 2 (II), 3 (III) and 4 (IV).
In early 2021, the company received over $275 million fromNASA forlunar lander projects andsub-orbital research flights.[125]
The company then announced on December 6, 2022, that it had submitted a second bid via theNASA Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) competition to fund and develop a second lunar lander capable for transportingastronauts to and from the lunar surface. The announcement fell withinNASA's deadline for Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) proposals. As with their first bid, the company is leading another team called the "National Team" which includesDraper,Boeing,Lockheed Martin,Astrobotic,Honeybee Robotics and Blue Origin.[126]
On May 19, 2023,NASA contracted the company to develop, test and deploy its Blue Moon landing system for the agency'sArtemis V mission, which explores theMoon and prepares future crewed missions toMars. The project includes an uncrewed test mission followed by a crewedMoon landing in 2029. The contract value is $3.4 billion.[36][37]
On August 12, 2025, Blue Origin announced a proposedMars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) mission that would fulfill NASA's new requirements of an orbiter that can be dually-used for both a Mars Sample Return mission and future crewed Mars missions.[127] It would be based on Blue Origin'sBlue Ring Satellite Platform supplemented by a yet unclarified small number of deployableUHF relay satellites that would enable it to provide wide-area coverage. It is envisioned by Blue Origin to be operational by 2028.[128]
By July 2014,Jeff Bezos had invested over $500 million into the company.[129] and the vast majority of further funding into 2016 was to supporttechnology development and operations where a majority of funding came fromJeff Bezos'private investment fund. In April 2017, an annual amount was published showing thatJeff Bezos was selling approximately $1 billion inAmazon stock per year toinvest in the company.[130]Jeff Bezos has been criticized for spending excessive amounts of his fortune onspaceflight.[131]
The company received $181 million from the United States Air Force for launch vehicle development in 2019. The company was also eligible to benefit from further grants totaling $500M as part of the U.S. Space ForceLaunch Services Agreement competition.[132] On November 18, 2022, theU.S. Space Systems Command announced that an agreement with the company that "paves the way" for the company'sNew Glennrocket to compete fornational security launch contracts once it completes its required flight certifications forTop Secretmilitary payloads.
In an interview with Bob Smith by the financial Times in 2023, Smith said that the company had "hundreds of millions in revenue as well as billions of dollars in orders".[133]
The company is part of theDARPA Lunar Programs, specifically Luna10, an architecture study for lunar surface operations.[134]
The company's first flight test vehicle, calledCharon afterPluto's moon,[135] was powered by four vertically mountedRolls-Royce Viper Mk. 301 jet engines rather than rockets. The low-altitude vehicle was developed to test autonomous guidance and control technologies, and the processes that the company would use to develop its later rockets.Charon made its only test flight at Moses Lake, Washington on March 5, 2005. It flew to an altitude of 96 m (316 ft) before returning for a controlled landing near the liftoff point.[136][137] As of 2016, Charon is on display at theMuseum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.[138]
The next test vehicle, namedGoddard (also known as PM1), first flew on November 13, 2006. The flight was successful. A test flight for December 2 never launched.[139][140] According toFederal Aviation Administration records, two further flights were performed by Goddard.[141] Blue Engine 1, or BE-1, was the first rocket engine developed by the company and was used in the company'sGoddard development vehicle.
Another early suborbital test vehicle, PM2, had two flight tests in 2011 in west Texas. The vehicle designation may be short for "Propulsion Module".[142] The first flight was a short hop (low altitude, VTVL takeoff and landing mission) flown on May 6, 2011. The second flight, August 24, 2011, failed when ground personnel lost contact and control of the vehicle. The company released its analysis of the failure nine days later. As the vehicle reached a speed ofMach 1.2 and 14 km (46,000 ft) altitude, a "flight instability drove anangle of attack that triggered [the]range safety system to terminate thrust on the vehicle". The vehicle was lost.[143] Blue Engine 2, or BE-2, was apump-fed bipropellant engine burningkerosene andperoxide which produced 140 kN (31,000 lbf) of thrust.[144][145] Five BE-2 engines powered the company's PM-2 development vehicle on two test flights in 2011.[146]
the CCDev-2 awards...and went to Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX).
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