Blue Origin

Infobox_Company
company_name = Blue Origin
company_
company_type = Private
company_slogan = Gradatim Ferociter!
foundation = September 2000
location = Kent, Washington
key_people = Jeff Bezos
revenue = n/a
industry = Aerospace and space tourism
products = suborbital spaceflight
homepage = [http://www.blueorigin.com/ www.blueorigin.com]

Blue Origin is a privately-funded aerospace company set up by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. Initially focused on sub-orbital spaceflight, the company has built and flown a testbed of their "New Shepard" spacecraft design at their Culberson County, Texas facility. According to company statements, they plan on placing the "New Shepard" in commercial suborbital tourist service in 2010 with flights about once a week.cite web|title=BLUE'S ROCKET CLUES|url=http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/06/24/669.aspx|name=Alan Boyle|publisher=cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com|date=2006-06-24|accessdate=2008-05-28]

History

Since its founding the company has been notoriously tight-lipped about its plans. Although the company was formally incorporated in 2000, its existence only became public in 2003, when Bezos started buying land in Texas and interested parties followed up on the purchases. This was a topic of some interest in local politics,cite web|title=BLUE ORIGIN REVEALED|url= http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/03/26062.aspx|name=Alan Boyle|publisher=cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com|date=2006-11-11|accessdate=2008-05-28] and his rapid aggregation of the lots under a variety of whimsically named shell companies was referred to as a "land grab".cite news|title=Buzz in West Texas is about Jeff Bezos space craft launch site|url= http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116312683235519444.html?mod=googlenews_wsj |name=Mylene Mangalindan|publisher=The Wall Street Journal|date=2006-11-10|accessdate=2008-05-28]

In January 2005, Bezos told the editor of the "Van Horn Advocate" that Blue Origin is developing a sub-orbital space vehicle that will take off and land vertically and carry three or more astronauts to the edge of space. [cite web|title= Blue Origin Spaceport Plans are Talk of Texas Town |url= http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ap_bezos_spaceport_050315.html |name= Michael Graczyk |publisher=space.com|date=2005-03-15|accessdate=2008-05-28] The spacecraft is based on technology like that used for the McDonnell Douglas DC-X and derivative DC-XA. Bezos told Reuters in November 2004 that his company hopes to progress to orbital spaceflight. As of January 2005, the company's website announced that it hopes to establish an "enduring human presence in space", but the 2007 version talks instead of aiming to "patiently and step-by-step, to lower the cost of spaceflight so that many people can afford to go and so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system".

Employees of Blue Origin include Rob Meyerson (program manager) and science fiction author Neal Stephenson (part-time advisor).

Headquarters

The company is headquartered in a warehouse situated on 25 acres of industrial land in the Seattle, Washington suburb of Kent, where its research and development is located. The spaceport facility was set up at the "Corn Ranch", a 165,000 acre (670 km²) spread north of Van Horn and 15 miles south of the Guadalupe Mountains, nearly 120 miles east of El Paso.

"New Shepard"

During 2006 the company built a prototype of their "New Shepard" design. The "New Shepard" is controlled entirely by on-board computers, without ground control. The fuselage is roughly conical, with a rounded base, and roughly bullet-shaped overall. It is powered by a cluster of nine engines powered by high test peroxide (HTP) and RP-1 kerosene, arranged in a 3 by 3 grid on the bottom. Four landing legs containing shock absorbers also extend from the edges of the bottom.

The first example, christened the "Goddard", first flew on November 13, 2006. The flight was a complete success, and pictures and movies from the launch form a major part of the company's spartan web site. However, a second test flight filed for December 2nd never launched. [cite web|title= BLUE ORIGIN ROCKET REPORT |url= http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/11/28/16017.aspx |name=Alan Boyle|publisher=cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com|date=2006-11-28|accessdate=2008-05-28] [cite web|title= BLUE ALERT FOR BLASTOFF |url= http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/12/02/16849.aspx |name=Alan Boyle|publisher=cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com|date=2006-12-02|accessdate=2008-05-28] Two successful flight tests have been recorded since then.

In an interview with Charlie Rose on November 19, 2007, Bezos reported that the construction of a second test vehicle was in progress and that a third development vehicle would be built after that before any commercial flights would begin [cite web
last = Bezos
first = Jeff
authorlink =
coauthors = Rose, Charlie
title = A conversation with Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos
work =
publisher = charlierose.com
date = 2007-11-19
url = http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/11/19/1/a-conversation-with-amazon-com-ceo-jeff-bezos
format =
doi =
accessdate = 2008-06-10 .] .

Test flights

* First Test Flight: 13 November 2006, 06:30, name of vehicle: Goddard. [cite news
last=Graczyk|first=Michael
url=http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/state/16008383.htm
title=Private space firm launches 1st test rocket
publisher=Associated Press
date=2006-11-14
accessdate=2007-01-09] ( [http://public.blueorigin.com/img/2006_11_13_launch.wmv video] )

* Second Test Flight: 22 March 2007, name of vehicle: Goddard. [cite news
last=Boyle
first=Alan
url=http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/03/23/99714.aspx
title=Rocket Revelations
publisher=MSNBC
date=2007-03-23
accessdate=2008-01-29]

* Third Test Flight : 19 April 2007, name of vehicle: Goddard. [cite news
url=http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ast/launch_data/permitted_historical_launch/
title=Recently Completed/Historical Launch Data
publisher=FAA AST
accessdate=2008-02-03]

ee also

* Bigelow Aerospace
* List of private spaceflight companies
* Space Adventures
* Space tourism
* Virgin Galactic

References

External links

* [http://public.blueorigin.com/index.html Official site]
* [http://wired-vig.wired.com/wired/archive/11.07/space.html?pg=6 Amazon Enters the Space Race] "Wired Magazine" (July 2003)
* [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002150764_blueorigin14m.html Amazon CEO gives us peek into space plans] , a January 2005 article from "The Seattle Times"
* [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=Bezos'%20Spaceport Amazon.com founder's space venture has West Texas county abuzz] (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 12 2005)
* [http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=21124 Blue Origin West Texas Commercial Launch Site Environmental Assessment]
* [http://www.spacefellowship.com/News/?cat=40 Latest Blue Origin News on the Space Fellowship]