On Tuesday, the private space company Blue Origin announced its plans to launch an orbital rocket with human pilots in its New Shepard spacecraft by 2019. And though the orbital rocket is planned to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 36 is only a glimpse of what’s coming next, the space travel company plans to do much more.
Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.com and Blue Origin’s chief financial backer, made the announcement as he was giving a private tour of the company’s facilities. Considering that Mr. Bezos is not a fan of giving public statements or holding press conferences, the company opened its doors to the media for the first time since it was founded on 2000.
In previous occasions this was not the case as the company had never gave access – let alone given a tour led by the chief financial backer – to the Blue Origin’s headquarters located in Washington.
As the private rocket company aims to revolutionize the business and technology behind space travel, Blue Origin has set the goal to start sending tourists into space by 2018, said billionaire Jeff Bezos. And considering that the company has launched a ship and landed it safely in two occasions, the space travel company shows an encouraging prospect.
Many people have expressed their desire to journey into the space on a pleasure agenda – said Jeff Bezos, according to the Washington Post – but without the need of having to become astronauts in order to get launched into orbit. That possibility is ahead of the curve as Blue Origin plans to take the way space travel is viewed globally by developing an accessible way for people to journey into the space.
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It is a rare occurrence for the space travel company to give access to media reporters inside the company’s headquarters as Blue Origin has demonstrated to be a highly secretive corporation. Nevertheless, Bezos led a handful of media members on a four-hour tour of the company, therefore providing reporters with their specific plans for future years, said the New York Times.
Blue Origin’s target, as well as Jeff Bezos’ target is to reduce the cost of spaceflights in order to offer people an affordable journey to space, and therefore going from dozens of launches per year, to hundreds of them.
In order to make Bezos’ vision happen, the company’s engineers are devoted to develop and refine the BE series engines. The BE-4 and BE-3 engines are intended to power the Blue Origin’s own spacecraft designed exclusively by the space travel corporation, as well as other spacecrafts designed by different companies.
Source: Washington Post