Blue Origin LLC is ramping up its spaceflight programs, breaking ground for a rocket factory as it begins a new three-year launch contract under NASA. The Texas-based company is prepping for construction of an eight-story, 475,000-square-foot facility at Exploration Park, the industrial site at Kennedy Space Center, according to a Florida Today report this week. Blue Origin plans to hire more than 300 people at the facility, which is slated for completion by late 2017 or early 2018. The first rocket could be built and ready for use at Cape Canaveral by 2020, the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile, NASA announced this week the selection of Blue Origin and its New Shepard spacecraft for the next cycle of its Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle program, joining five other companies including Masten Space Systems and Virgin Galactic. Blue Origin, founded by entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, was the first company to successfully launch and land a reusable rocket. The NASA program, with the potential for other contractors to be added by the agency, will have the companies compete for an indefinite number of launches within a three-year period and a $45 million budget. The goal of the program is to provide low-cost launches using rockets capable of controlled vertical landings.
