Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to Supply Engines for Boeing-Lockheed Rocket Venture
September 27th, 2018Via: Wall Street Journal:
Blue Origin LLC, the space-transportation company run by Jeff Bezos, has won a contract to provide engines for a potential rival’s next-generation rocket, according to people familiar with the matter, vaulting Mr. Bezos into the lucrative market for Pentagon satellite launches.
United Launch Alliance LLC—a joint venture between Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. that launches U.S. military and spy satellites into orbit—is set to announce Thursday it has picked Blue Origin’s BE-4 engine for its Vulcan rocket, these people said. United Launch declined to comment.
The long-term, potentially multibillion-dollar agreement could provide a boost to Blue Origin’s eventual goal of becoming a major military launch provider itself. The company plans to use the same engines to power its own heavy-lift launcher, called New Glenn, which is currently under development.
