0
Total Launches
0
Successful
0%
Success Rate
0
Consec. Success
The Story
Blue Origin was founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000 — two years before SpaceX — making it the older of the two great private space ventures, and the one that moved slower. While SpaceX raced to orbit and revenue, Blue Origin pursued a methodical philosophy summed up in its Latin motto: gradatim ferociter — step by step, fero...
In short
“Blue Origin's philosophy is tortoise, not hare — but the tortoise is finally in the race.”
New Glenn's first stage is designed to be reused 25 times
Blue Origin has spent over $10 billion of Bezos's personal fortune on space development
BE-4 is the most powerful American-built rocket engine since the Space Shuttle Main Engine
New Shepard has carried 31 people to space including the oldest human ever to fly
Milestones
2000
Founded
Jeff Bezos establishes Blue Origin in Kent, Washington
2015
New Shepard lands
First successful vertical landing of a reusable rocket
2021
Bezos flies to space
Jeff Bezos aboard New Shepard's first crewed mission
2022
BE-4 delivered
BE-4 engines delivered to ULA for Vulcan Centaur
2024
New Glenn launches
New Glenn completes first orbital launch attempt
2025
Blue Moon contracted
NASA contracts Blue Moon lunar lander for Artemis crewed missions
Key People
What's Next
The road ahead for Blue Origin
New Glenn is Blue Origin's orbital workhorse and first real competition with SpaceX. Blue Moon — a lunar lander contracted by NASA for Artemis — and the Orbital Reef space station concept represent Blue Origin's ambition to build infrastructure for millions of people to live and work in space.