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• Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said the space company needs to build more rockets
• Smith said that thousands of people are in the auction process for space tourism
Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith said on Thursday the space company needs to build more rockets to meet the space tourism demand.
Jeff Bezos’ space firm flew 14 people to space in 2021 in New Shepard rockets.
“I think the challenge for Blue at this point is that we’re actually supply limited,” Smith said, speaking at the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington.
In 2021, Blue Origin launched three crewed missions in its New Shepard rocket. Smith said the number of missions can easily be doubled in 2022.
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Blue has two operational New Shepard rocket boosters currently, one for research cargo flights and one for passenger flights.
Space tourism demand
Though the company has not publicly revealed pricing for seats on its New Shepard rocket, but on its first flight, a seat for auctioned for $28 million. Bezos has said earlier that the company has sold nearly $100 million worth of tickets.
Smith said on Thursday that thousands of people are in the auction process.
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“We can see there’s very robust demand” for more New Shepard flights, Smith said.
Blue Origin Vice President Audrey Powers talked about the safety of its New Shepard rockets at the FAA conference.
“I think we put together a very, very robust approach” to safety, Powers said on Thursday, adding that Blue Origin has been “able to prove that out over the course of the year, with not just one but with three successful [crewed] flights.”
Picture Credits: Reuters