Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wants to build vehicles for 'next generation' space companies
Jeff Bezos said he benefited from existing systems when he started Amazon, and now he wants his private space company, Blue Origin, to cut the “price of admission” to space for future startups.
Bezos said he “didn’t have to build a transportation network to deliver the packages” during an interview with CBS Evening News this week, because Amazon was able to use the post office. He said he wants Blue Origin to build the infrastructure for future space flight.
“It takes hundreds of millions of dollars to even just get started with something interesting,” Bezos said. “What I do is reduce that price of admission with reusable space vehicles, so that next generation, you can actually have two kids in a bedroom make a great space company.”
Blue Origin has been working on reusable rockets. As of May, its “New Shepard” rocket had flown to space "a total of 11 times, with two of the New Shepard boosters flying to space and back five times each consecutively with minimal refurbishment between flights" according to a company spokesperson.
The company intends to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon with four rovers aboard, Bezos announced earlier this year. It also plans to transport people to the Moon as NASA returns there, too.
In the meantime, Blue Origin’s rockets have carried payloads for schools universities, government agencies and private companies. The company is also slated to launch Telesat’s broadband service “satellite constellation” into orbit aboard its “New Glenn” rocket.
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Bezos has previously said he plans to liquidate $1 billion worth of Amazon stock each year in order to grow Blue Origin.
FOX Business’ Thomas Barrabi and Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report.
