Blue Origin – Page 9 – Spaceflight Now

Orbital ATK, SpaceX nab U.S. Air Force propulsion contracts

January 14, 2016 Stephen Clark

Orbital ATK and SpaceX won Pentagon contracts worth a combined value of up to $241 million Wednesday in public-private partnerships crafted to hasten the U.S. military’s move away from Russian-supplied propulsion to deliver national security satellites to orbit.

SpaceX rocket landing applauded, but experts say implications TBD

December 23, 2015 William Harwood

The successful launch and landing by the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday was a significant step toward achieving reusability and, eventually, lowering launch costs, but turning that success into operational reality poses a significant challenge for company founder Elon Musk.

Round-trip rocket flight gives SpaceX a trifecta of successes

December 22, 2015 Stephen Clark

Flying through the sky at supersonic speed, a Falcon 9 rocket stage descended to a historic landing at Cape Canaveral on Monday, returning to the spaceport minutes after boosting 11 Orbcomm communications satellites toward orbit on SpaceX’s first mission since a major failure in June.

Bezos-backed Blue Origin achieves rocket landing

November 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

A suborbital rocket booster built by Blue Origin, an entrepreneurial space firm founded by Internet tycoon Jeff Bezos, streaked into space in the skies over West Texas and descended to a pinpoint propulsive touchdown on a landing pad, the company announced Tuesday.

Q&A with Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin

November 24, 2015 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos, the Internet pioneer behind Amazon.com, spoke with reporters Nov. 24 after a historic flight of the company’s suborbital New Shepard launch vehicle that ended with a successful vertical rocket-assisted touchdown at a landing pad in West Texas.

ULA selects launch pads for new Vulcan rocket

October 12, 2015 Stephen Clark

United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan rocket will lift off from the company’s existing Atlas 5 launch facilities in Florida and California, according to the company’s Vulcan program manager.

Boeing rejects bid to buy ULA as engine race heats up

September 17, 2015 Stephen Clark

Boeing said Wednesday it has turned down an offer from Aerojet Rocketdyne to buy United Launch Alliance, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture that operates the Atlas and Delta rocket fleets.

Bezos to locate commercial rocket base in Florida

September 15, 2015 Stephen Clark

Blue Origin, the burgeoning, often secretive space company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, revealed plans Tuesday to build and launch reusable rockets on Florida’s Space Coast, adding another commercial tenant for historic real estate at Cape Canaveral.

Bezos’ Blue Origin completes first test flight of ‘New Shepard’ spacecraft

April 30, 2015 William Harwood

Blue Origin, a rocket engine and spacecraft development company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, carried out an unpiloted maiden test flight of the company’s New Shepard sub-orbital launch vehicle Wednesday, the historically secretive company revealed early Thursday.

Blue Origin’s sub-orbital ‘New Shepard’ poised for test flights

April 8, 2015 William Harwood

Blue Origin, the historically secretive rocket company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has completed development of a new hydrogen-fueled engine and plans to begin unmanned test flights of its reusable New Shepard sub-orbital spacecraft later this year, company officials said Tuesday.