Jeff Bezos recently played tour guide for popular YouTube personality Tim Dodd, known as "Everyday Astronaut," providing a rare glimpse inside Blue Origin's factory and showcasing the company's colossal New Glenn rocket. The tour took place at Blue Origin's production facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the towering New Glenn rocket is being assembled. Standing over 320 feet tall, it's one of the largest rockets ever built, surpassed only by SpaceX's Starship, Saturn V, and the Russian N-1.
"The scale of things in person is always surprising," Bezos said. "The first time you see a flight article or development article, it's always surprising." Bezos, known for his passion for space exploration, enthusiastically explained the intricacies of New Glenn's technology.
The rocket, slated for its maiden flight later this year, is a partially reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle designed to carry 45 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. Bezos highlighted the rocket's reusable Stage One, powered by seven BE-4 engines that run on liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas. He detailed the advanced welding techniques used to construct the tanks, highlighting their durability and reusability.
"This is a very high-performance way to build the tank," he said. "And especially because it's a reusable vehicle, you get to reuse all that high-performance." New Glenn is designed for a rapid turnaround time of just 16 days between missions and a minimum lifespan of 25 missions, with Bezos hoping to achieve "at least a hundred" reuses.
Bezos underscored the importance of reusability in making spaceflight more affordable. He aims to challenge the traditional cost structure of the industry. "They haven't really changed, so our job today is not to do better than they did at spaceflight.
It's to make it more affordable," he said. Bezos also shared his experience with salvaging Saturn V engines from the Apollo missions. Viewers got a look at the rocket's hydrogen-powered Upper Stage, Aft Section, and massive hydraulic fins.
"A good aerospace hardware does look like art because you're just going for function," Bezos said. "But there's something when you go for that last 1% of function, it really makes things beautiful." The video comes after Dodd toured SpaceX's "Starfactory," where its Starship rocket is manufactured.
This provides a fascinating glimpse into the ongoing competition between the two billionaires and their space companies..
