Bezos’ space masterplan

In the billionaire battle for space, Jeff Bezos wants top spot. 

Where Musk goes… 

Jeff Bezos is getting sick and tired of following in Elon Musk’s footsteps. Of course, he’s been a success in his own right, but when it comes to space, he’s been sat in a humble second from the get-go. Not only is his aerospace company, Blue Origin, trying to make up lost time due to constant production delays, but efforts to claw back some ground on its competitors through legal means have also fallen flat.   

Despite everything though, Bezos has a plan – and he’s looking at NASA to make it a reality.  

A fork in the road? 

So, what next? NASA has two contracts up for tender; the first will see the construction of a commercial alternative to the international space station, and the second is for another human landing craft for astronauts as part of NASA’s Project Artemis.  

Bidding for both, Blue Origin’s plans for a space station of its own bring about the usual cocktail of ambition, quirk and optimism. But when it comes to building a landing craft, Bezos is looking at a more difficult route. Having initially lost the first bid to Musk’s SpaceX (ouch), Blue Origin took NASA to court – and lost (double ouch).

And while we’re sure NASA is more than capable of letting bygones be bygones, it’s not the ideal footing for a future relationship. Having already lost ground to SpaceX and Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Bezos needs to start winning contracts if he wants to keep up with the competition.