All articles tagged with #blue origin
Wally Funk, a trailblazing aviator who pursued space for six decades, died at 87. After earning a pilot’s license early and training as a female astronaut in the 1960s, she finally flew aboard Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin mission in 2021, becoming a symbol of perseverance in space exploration.
SpaceX shares slipped to about $145 after its Nasdaq-100 debut, down roughly 35% from a mid-June high as investors grapple with a near-$2 trillion valuation and ongoing profitability concerns, despite bullish price targets from banks. The pullback comes as SpaceX’s merger with xAI burns billions and Blue Origin raises funding at a high valuation, all amid broader market headwinds for tech stocks.
Blue Origin is raising $10 billion from external investors at a $130 billion pre-money valuation, led by Coatue with a $2 billion contribution from Jeff Bezos. This marks the company’s first external funding and aims to accelerate growth as it competes with SpaceX, which has far more launches and recently went public with a multi-trillion-dollar valuation.
SpaceX stock SPCX hit an all-time low, briefly trading below its $150 IPO price as rival Blue Origin raises about $10 billion at a $130 billion valuation, signaling diverging momentum in the space sector: Nasdaq-100 inclusion may already be priced in for SpaceX, while Blue Origin draws new outside capital despite a New Glenn rocket setback and signals ambitions in satellite connectivity (TeraWave) alongside broader Amazon LEO plans that could compete with Starlink.
Blue Origin is raising about $10 billion in its first outside funding round, valuing the company at $130 billion; Bezos will contribute $2 billion, with about $4 billion from Coatue and the remaining $4 billion from other investors. The round follows SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO, boosts Blue Origin’s push in heavy-lift rockets and lunar landers, and aims to return the New Glenn rocket to flight by the end of 2026 after a May test failure.
Blue Origin is reportedly raising $10 billion in private capital, valuing the company at about $130 billion. Lead investor Coatue Management would contribute $4 billion, with another $4 billion from large institutional investors and $2 billion from Jeff Bezos. The funds are earmarked to advance the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, lunar landers, and two megaconstellations (TeraWave and Project Sunrise) to compete with SpaceX in launches and space services. SpaceX recently raised about $85 billion with a roughly $2 trillion valuation, underscoring the competitive context in private spaceflight.
Ars Technica's Ars Live recap features a panel debating when Blue Origin's New Glenn (especially the 9×4 variant) will fly, with no firm debut date and speculation of a late-2027/early-2028 timeline. Experts warn that adding more engines complicates the design and could delay milestones, potentially pushing NASA's Moon-landing plans this decade to rely on SpaceX's Starship rather than waiting for New Glenn. The discussion also touches on past architectural changes and the loss of Launch Complex 36A, highlighting ongoing uncertainty about achieving Artemis-era lunar missions.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised Blue Origin for its rapid cleanup and transparency after the May New Glenn anomaly, with Plan A to launch the Mk.1 Endurance on New Glenn still aiming for a year-end flight, while NASA evaluates alternatives such as SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and ULA's Vulcan for Artemis III; Blue Origin is pursuing a faster return-to-flight without rebuilding the same pad, investigators pointing to the aft section as a likely root cause, and some officials remain cautious about timelines as progress is monitored into 2027.
Blue Origin outlines a return-to-flight plan for its New Glenn rocket after an anomaly destroyed a pad vehicle, with early analysis pointing to the aft first stage. The company will implement a hybrid horizontal-vertical integration flow at LC-36A, reuse existing infrastructure, and coordinate with NASA on Moon Base timelines as Blue Moon landers advance toward VIPER and Artemis-era missions; the late-2026 return remains the goal, though some milestones may push into 2027.
Blue Origin says it will relaunch its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36 later this year after last month’s fueling-test explosion; debris was cleared in nine days and reconstruction is underway, a rapid turnaround that underscores the high-stakes timeline as NASA weighs Artemis-era lunar-lander options and considers Starship/Blue Moon for future missions.
Nearly a month after Blue Origin’s New Glenn exploded on LC-36A, destroying the Florida launch pad and leaving no place to launch, officials warn that diagnosing the failure and returning to flight may slip past year-end, complicating NASA’s Artemis plans and other heavy-lift customers, with Ars Technica hosting an Ars Live discussion on June 30 featuring space-industry experts to unpack the implications.
SpaceX’s IPO turned early employees into millionaires by enabling private sales of stock, while Blue Origin’s older plan paid out only at liquidity events and expired after 10 years, leaving many alums with worthless options; Blue Origin has since updated its program to offer more liquidity options, but the gap between the two companies’ incentive models remains stark as SpaceX’s success compounds wealth and Blue Origin rebuilds after a recent setback to its New Glenn program.
Blue Origin has begun rebuilding its Florida launch pad after a New Glenn explosion and plans to fly again by year-end, while Relativity Space unveils an Interplanetary Sciences Program aiming for a 2028 Mars orbiter on Terran R; Latitude changes the Zephyr name due to trademark risk, Zhuque-2E upper stage breaks up in orbit, Japan’s H3 returns to flight, AST SpaceMobile’s satellites ride a SpaceX Falcon 9, and Ariane 6 advances for Amazon’s launcher needs.
Jeff Bezos’s AI startup Prometheus plans to build AI-powered engineering tools for designing physical products across robotics, drug design, and manufacturing. After a $12 billion funding round, Prometheus is valued at about $41 billion, with Bezos and Vik Bajaj as co-CEOs and roughly 150 employees. The tools are pitched as an “artificial general engineer” that could benefit hardware-heavy firms like Blue Origin.
Juan Hernandez, a welder who started at SpaceX as a contractor with a $10,000 equity grant, grew his stake to about $880,000 in SpaceX stock ahead of the IPO and has since left to weld for Jeff Bezos’ rival Blue Origin, illustrating how early SpaceX employees could unlock substantial fortunes at the offering.