Jeff Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin is aiming to launch another rocket before the end of 2026, setting an ambitious timetable after a recent explosion damaged launchpad infrastructure and equipment.
It is rebuilding the facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, where the explosion occurred last month. Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said the launchpad had been cleared of debris and that reconstruction began on Tuesday.
Speaking at VivaTech, Limp told the crowd, “We’re going to fly this year,” which would be a big ask given the scope of repair work required and Blue Origin’s struggles to launch regularly. Launching too soon after a major disaster, only to have another critical failure, could do more harm than good to Blue Origin’s future commitments with NASA and other customers.
Cape Canaveral is currently the only facility from which Blue Origin can launch its New Glenn rocket, having rebuilt the site specifically for the rocket.
Critical time for Blue Origin
The explosion occurred at a critical time for Blue Origin, as it had just refocused on commercial rocket launches. NASA recently selected Blue Origin to launch the first of three planned missions tied to the construction of a Moon base and to lunar lander development. At the same time, its contract with Amazon to launch thousands of satellites is behind schedule.
While Amazon is unlikely to kick up a fuss, given that Bezos is its largest individual shareholder, it has put the tech giant’s networking plans on hold. Alongside Amazon’s own satellite service, Blue Origin had planned to launch 5,400 satellites for enterprises. This is also likely to be delayed by the explosion.
Bezos has reportedly begun seeking external funding for Blue Origin for the first time, having been the sole investor in the project since launch. While Blue Origin will likely still receive funding with the record investment in the sector, it could be at a slightly more conservative valuation. It has ambitions to launch more than 100 rockets per year, which will require far more funding than the $4.8 billion per year Bezos is currently chipping in.
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Blue Origin’s main rival stealing the spotlight
While Blue Origin struggles to rebuild its launch platform, its rival SpaceX has seen its fortunes surge on the public market. Elon Musk’s aerospace company debuted on the Nasdaq with a $1.77 trillion valuation, which at one point on Tuesday rose to $2.7 trillion, surpassing Bezos’ main company, Amazon, in valuation.
While much of the hype and valuation of the stock is tied to AI, and SpaceX merged with Musk’s other venture, xAI, a few months before the IPO, the aerospace and satellite side still commands significant attention.
Whether this is good or bad for Blue Origin in the long term will depend on how quickly it gets its operations back online and whether it can start to close the gap with SpaceX in terms of launch volume.
Also read: SpaceX’s $60 billion Cursor deal deepens Elon Musk’s AI push days after the company’s record-setting public-market debut.