Blue Origin reportedly raising $10B at $130B valuation
Blue Origin is raising $10 billion at a $130 billion pre-money valuation from Coatue Asset Management, Bezos himself and other big-name investors, the New York Times reported.
Blue Origin is raising $10 billion at a $130 billion pre-money valuation from Coatue Asset Management, Bezos himself and other big-name investors, the New York Times reported.
But the company is still claiming that New Glenn will return to flight this year.
CEO Dave Limp said damage to the company’s launchpad in Florida was not as bad as expected. But Blue Origin still hasn’t shared the cause of last week’s explosion.
The explosion is likely a major setback for Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company, and its attempt to compete with SpaceX.
Jeff Bezos’ rocket company confirmed an engine failure led to the loss of an AST SpaceMobile satellite last month, but offered little detail.
The New Glenn rocket will have to stay grounded while the company investigates what caused the apparent failure of its upper stage.
It’s a major milestone for the company’s new mega-rocket system, putting it in position to challenge SpaceX’s dominance of the global launch market.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin had previously suggested that the third launch of the mega-rocket would take the space company’s robotic lunar lander to the moon.
The nine-engine variant can carry larger payloads and more closely matches the capabilities of SpaceX’s largest rocket, Starship.
It’s an impressive accomplishment for the new mega-rocket launch system, and paves the way for the company to start re-using the boosters in commercial missions.