Why Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Lags Behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has long trailed Elon Musk's SpaceX. An explosion last month at the company's launch pad in Florida has pulled back the curtain on the rivalry between the two firms.

On May 28, Blue Origin's one of New Glenn rockets exploded in a colossal fireball, leaving a trail of devastation at its launch station. The launch came at a sensitive time for Bezos, who has struggled to keep pace with SpaceX, as per Financial Times.

SpaceX launched its IPO last week. It has cemented its presence in the space sector with 170 missions last year.

Sources close to Bezos said that the billionaire is keenly aware of how Blue Origin is lagging behind.  “It burns Jeff up that we're so far behind SpaceX,” a senior employee told FT.

Blue Origin looked ready to start closing the gap before the explosion in May. Now it is being forced to rebuild while SpaceX has garnered vast capital on the public markets.

The Jeff Bezos-owned company plans to get ahead in the space industry based on the New Glenn rocket's ability to return to flight this year.

Bezos established Blue Origin in the year 2000. For years, the company was little more than a think-tank. It shifted to commercial space flight under the leadership of ex-NASA engineer Rob Meyerson in the late 2000s and started developing the New Shepard rocket.

But its achievements were overshadowed by SpaceX. A conservative attitude under ex-CEO Bob Smith, Bezos' absence for long periods and setbacks in rocket development held Blue Origin back while SpaceX flew from strength to strength.

Former Amazon executive Dave Limp's entry in 2023 transformed Blue Origin, marking a more aggressive manner at the company.

Under Limp and Bezos, Blue Origin has filed for a constellation of 5,408 TeraWave satellites with the US Federal Communications Commission, promising significantly faster speeds than SpaceX's Starlink. It has also submitted proposals for a 51,000-strong satellite constellation to run AI workloads, dubbed Project Sunrise”.

But replicating SpaceX's success is not easy. Its $75 billion IPO far exceeds the amount Bezos can raise without significantly selling Amazon stock. Moreover, lack of actual equity for employees can dampen motivation at the company as SpaceX's workers gear up for a big payday.

Skepticism about another New Glenn launch this year remains, meaning satellite providers and other customers may look at SpaceX for upcoming launches.

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin are racing to build the moon landers that NASA plans to test on its Artemis III mission next year, NBC reported. May's explosion has created a setback for Blue Origin in terms of the mission as well.

As of now, Blue Origin is on the backfoot compared to SpaceX and it has a lot to catch up on.