Jeff Bezos’ Private Space Company to Launch Rockets from Cape Canaveral

Jeff Bezos was inspired by space exploration when he was younger and now he plans to build reusable rockets and launch them from the Air Force Station of Cape Canaveral in Florida. The Amazon.com CEO and founder plans to offer affordable space flights to those interested in flying to outer space.

Cape Canaveral’s future

The space flight program that Jeff Bezos envisions Blue Origin to offer was launched on Tuesday at Launch Complex 36 of the Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral with Air Force Brig. Gen. Steven Garland, KSC Director Bob Cabana and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in attendance. The presentation included recorded messages from astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Scott Kelly who are both currently working at the Space Station. The rockets will be built in Brevard County, while the launches will be from the Air Force Station.

Blue Origin is set to start the construction of the rocket-building facility at the Exploration Park on Merritt Island, which is close to the Kennedy Space Center, very soon. It plans to employ at least 330 people from Florida. The investment is estimated to be over $200 million to cover both the manufacturing and the launch facilities. An additional fund of about $18 million will come for local and state incentives.

Florida Governor Rick Scott was thrilled by the news, saying that the Space Coast has been announcing new employment opportunities. Aerospace firms Embraer and Boeing have made similar announcements this month. Embraer announced expansion plans in its jet manufacturing plant in Florida while Boeing has just announced the opening of its commercial spaceship manufacturing plant in the state.

New hope

The announcements gave new hope to the area, which had been suffering from massive layoffs and the space shuttle program retirement. For decades Cape Canaveral had been a hive of activity, with launches of several spacecraft as well as commercial and military satellites. But the last launch that Cape Canaveral hosted was way back in 2005.

There is no definite timetable for a Blue Origin rocket but Bezos said it could be in the latter part of this decade. The initial test flights they would be conducting would be for payload research. Blue Origin has completed test flights of its New Shepard rocket in Texas, which went as far as the edge of space. Another test of the New Shepard rocket could be done this year, although it’s not going to be done in Florida.

By James Duncan Davidson from Portland, USA (Etech05: Jeff) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons