Florida Getting a New, Privately Funded Space Exploration Facility

Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is constructing a massive facility for building rockets in another sign of the future of space exploration.

1 minute read

June 30, 2016, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Blue Origin

Blue Origin's rocket, called the New Shepherd, takes flight in 2015. | Franke360 / Wikimedia Commons

Tim Fernholz reports: "Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, said it broke ground on a 750,000-square-foot “orbital vehicle” factory in Florida, to build full-scale rockets that could reach the International Space Station or the altitudes where satellites orbit."

According to Fernholz, Blue origin is moving to compete with companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

An article by Alan Boyle provides more insight into the construction of the huge facility, located at Exploration Park, just south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center. James Dean reported earlier this month when the company began clearing the land for the facility. Boyle's article includes images before and during construction as well as a rendering of the completed project.

Tuesday, June 28, 2016 in GeekWire

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