Jeff Bezos’ owned - Blue Origin flew 14 people to space last year. In addition to it the CEO of the company - Bob Smith, said the company needs to build more of its New Shepard rockets, to meet the demand of the space tourism industry.
“I think the challenge for Blue at this point is that we’re actually supply limited,” Smith said, speaking at the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington.
Blue Origin sent 3 crewed missions with its New Shepard rocket and capsule in 2021, as well as one cargo research flight. Smith says, “the company can easily double that number of missions in 2022.”
New Shepard is launched from Blue Origin’s private facility in the Texas desert and can reach above 100 km, past the 80-kilometer boundary at the edge of space. The company currently has 2 operational New Shepard rocket boosters, 1 for research cargo flights and the other for passenger flights.
It is still yet to disclose the pricing of the seats. “We can see there’s very robust demand” for more New Shepard flights, Smith said.
Smith also said he believes it is really a very exciting time for the space industry. Companies like Virgin Galactic are looking their ways to bet on it too.
