NASA awards Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and its 301-meter-high New Glenn rocket contract for future space missions from 2025
- NASA has designated Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket as a potential supplier to the mission
- The company that owns Jeff Bezos will have the opportunity to hire
- This includes sending satellites into orbit or launching supplies to the ISS
- The contract starts in June 2025 and lasts until the end of 2027
- However, New Glenn has not yet been launched: it is scheduled for space in 2021
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is still a year away from its first flight into space, but NASA is confident it will be a success and has named the firm’s New Glenn rocket as a potential supplier for science missions.
Blue Origin received a contract from NASA Launch Services (NLS) II that allows its 310-foot-tall reusable rocket to launch a wide range of satellites into orbit and make supplies to the ISS.
The announcement allows the US space agency to place orders with Blue Origin from June 2025 until the end of 2027.
NLS II contractors must have the ability to successfully launch and deliver a payload into orbit using a domestic launch service capable of placing at least a payload of 250 kg in a circular orbit of 200 kg. inclined kilometers of 28.5 degrees.
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Blue Origin received a contract from NASA Launch Services (NLS) II that allows its 310-foot-tall reusable rocket to launch a series of satellites into orbit and make supplies to the ISS.
Jarrett Jones, senior vice president of New Glenn, Blue Origin, said in a statement: “We are proud to be on NASA’s catalog of launch services and look forward to offering reliable launches for future NASA missions aboard New Glenn for years to come. “
“The award builds on Blue Origin’s existing partnership with NASA and will advance science and exploration for the benefit of the Earth.”
Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 and established a launch facility 15 years later in West Texas for its New Shepard and New Glenn rockets, which will be launched next year.
New Shepard, which has completed several flight flights, leads the Blue Origin space tourism service and New Glenn will bring the satellites into orbit.
The announcement allows the US space agency to place orders with Blue Origin from June 2025 to the end of 2027. Jeff Bezos (pictured)
However, New Glenn has not yet taken off into space: it is scheduled for its first launch next year.
Blue Origin also says it will use the massive reusable rocket to provide access to the moon and is part of the firm’s broader mission to one day send a million people to live in space.
Blue’s launch vehicles face stiff competition from several other aerospace companies, such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
Still, SpaceX leads the group with 100 launches of its Falcon 9 rocket and two manned missions to the International Space Station.
The company that owns Musk also reached another milestone last week with the launch of its Starship rocket.
New Shepard, which has completed several flight returns, leads the Blue Origin space tourism service and New Glenn will bring the satellites into orbit
The serial number 8 (SN8) prototype took off from the Boca Chica, Texas test facility at 5:45 pm ET on December 10, starting the Raptor engines and soaring into the sky for successfully achieve their goal of reaching an elevation of 7.8 smiles).
When Starship finally touched down, it ignited in flames, and once the fire and smoke were cleared, only a pile of debris remained topped with what was left of the cone of the boat’s nose.
Musk, however, considered the launch a success: he said the prototype, while destroyed, collected a wealth of data that would bring SpaceX one step further by sending humans to Mars aboard the rocket. .