Blue Origin Struggles to Keep Up with SpaceX in Space Industry

Los Angeles: So, Blue Origin just had a big moment with its New Glenn rocket launch. It was their first successful attempt, which is pretty cool. But let’s be real, they still have a long way to go to catch up with SpaceX.

New Glenn is a big deal for them, named after John Glenn, the first American in orbit. It’s their first orbital rocket, and it could open up new business opportunities. But SpaceX is still leading the pack with its Starship, which is a game-changer in the industry.

Even though SpaceX had a hiccup with Starship exploding during a flight, they’ve been in the game for years. A former SpaceX director pointed out that Blue Origin has a lot of catching up to do. Sure, launching a rocket on the first try is impressive, but now they need to prove it can be reliable and reused.

New Glenn isn’t meant to compete directly with Starship anyway. It’s got a decent payload capacity, fitting somewhere between SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. This gives customers more options for launching their satellites.

Blue Origin is just starting to make money with New Glenn, while SpaceX has been raking it in for over a decade. They’ve been sending astronauts and tourists to space regularly since 2020. Blue Origin, on the other hand, has mostly focused on short tourist trips until now.

Bezos himself admitted that Blue Origin isn’t a great business yet, but he believes it will be the best one he’s ever had. It’s clear that they need more than just this launch to reach SpaceX’s level.