Amazon founder Jeff Bezos signs first Blue Origin rocket customer
Company in competition with Elon Musk's SpaceX
Blue Origin, a rocket company owned by Amazon.com Inc Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, has signed Eutelsat Communications SA as its first customer for satellite launch services, he said on Tuesday.
Blue Origin is developing a reusable orbital rocket called New Glenn that is expected to debut before the end of the decade.
"We couldn't hope for a better first partner," Bezos said during a keynote address at the Satellite 2017 conference.
The target date for the first launch is around 2021, Eutelsat CEO Rodolphe Belmer said.
Excited to announce we have signed our 1st <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewGlenn?src=hash">#NewGlenn</a> customer. Welcome to the launch manifest <a href="https://twitter.com/Eutelsat_SA">@Eutelsat_SA</a> <a href="https://t.co/fTeKKneYnJ">pic.twitter.com/fTeKKneYnJ</a>
—@JeffBezosNew Glenn is a follow-on program to Origin's suborbital New Shepard launch system, a rocket and capsule designed to fly payloads and passengers to about 62 miles above the planet. Test flights with crew members aboard are expected to begin this year.
The company has not yet set a price for rides.
Like New Shepard, the New Glenn booster is designed to fly itself back to Earth so it can be recovered and reflown, slashing launch costs. Tech billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX also favours this approach.