Amazon's Jeff Bezos Unveils His Space Company's Launch Plans at Cape Canaveral
A secret no more, Bezos makes public his plans for his other tech endeavor.
— -- Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos announced today that his space exploration startup will fly its orbital launch vehicle from the legendary Cape Canaveral in Florida.
Bezos, 51, also announced a $200-million investment by his space startup Blue Origin to build rockets there in an upcoming production facility.
"As a kid, I was inspired by the giant Saturn V missions that roared to life from these shores," Bezos said in a statement. "Now we are thrilled to be coming to the Sunshine State for a new era of exploration."
Blue Origin, a privately-funded aerospace company funded by Bezos, announced last week with space launch company United Launch Alliance a production agreement for a rocket called Vulcan. The startup company, based in Kent, Washington, is located about 20 miles south of Amazon.com's headquarters in Seattle.
The launch site, Complex 36, has already seen 145 launches in its 43 years of service, Bezos noted, including the Mariner missions, the first U.S. spacecraft to visit other planets.
"The site saw its last launch in 2005 and the pad has stood silent for more than 10 years -- too long. We can’t wait to fix that," Bezos said in a statement today.
"We’ll be launching from here later this decade," Bezos said in his statement. "You will hear us before you see us. Our American-made BE-4 engine -- the power behind our orbital launch vehicle -- will be acceptance tested here. Our BE-4 engine will also help make history as it powers the first flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket."
Like fellow entrepreneurs Richard Branson and Elon Musk, Bezos and his company are pursuing the commercial race to launch the human race into space.
"Blue Origin has a long-term vision of greatly increasing the number of people that fly into space so that we humans can better continue exploring the solar system," Blue Origin's description on its website states.