Blue Origin vs. Virgin Galactic, Where is SpaceX?

Yesterday, Jeff Bezos, founder and former CEO of Amazon, became the second billionaire to reach the edge of space. Bezos flew with his brother Mark Bezos, 82-year-old female aviation pioneer Wally Funk and 18-year-old Oliver Daemen. The trip used a space capsule built and designed by Bezos’ space venture Blue Origin to fly its passengers above the internationally recognized boundary of space. The first private space flight was taken just a week before by billionaire Richard Branson using a rocket designed by his company Virgin Galactic.

The difference between both trips is that Blue Origin lifted “off from a pad,” while the Virgin Galactic vehicle “was dropped from under a specially designed aircraft at about 50,000 feet (15.24 km) before firing its ascent engines. The Virgin Galactic spacecraft also gilded back to Earth for space shuttle-like runway landing,” reported NPR.

These flights are just the tip of the iceberg of what will come. Both Bezos and Branson are planning to further develop a potentially lucrative market for space tourism, where tickets are thought to go for US$250,000. Each flight will allow up to six people at a time and allow them to experience four minutes of weightlessness. Jeff Bezos said, “I founded Blue Origin because I want to help create a future where millions of people live in space, residing on lush, rotating manufactured worlds in orbit. Sending passengers on suborbital flights is a logical first step aligned with that vision.”

Some have pointed out that the next person to join the “race” should be Elon Musk, whose company Space X has flown astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and performed numerous spaceflights both with NASA and with commercial partners. Musk, however, has stated that his company will continue to focus on working with NASA, gaining market share in the satellite launch industry and sending humans to Mars. 

Bezos’ company Amazon has also been one of the most important contributors to e-commerce and logistics in Mexico. The company recently announced a new logistics center in Tepozotlan, State of Mexico, as previously reported in MBN.