Blue Origin is a private American space company founded by Jeff Bezos on September 8, 2000, and based in Kent, Washington. It builds the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, the BE-4 engine that also powers ULA's Vulcan, and the Blue Moon landers it is developing for NASA. CEO Dave Limp has run it since December 2023.
What does Blue Origin do?
- New Glenn: a 98-meter rocket with a 7-meter fairing and a reusable first stage. It reached orbit on January 16, 2025, landed its booster on November 13, 2025, and reflew a booster on April 19, 2026.
- BE-4 engines: methane and liquid oxygen engines, seven per New Glenn and two per ULA Vulcan.
- Blue Moon: the Mark 1 cargo lander, expected to fly first in early 2027, and the Mark 2 crewed lander funded by a $3.4 billion NASA contract.
- New Shepard: the suborbital rocket that flew Jeff Bezos to space in July 2021, paused since January 2026.
- Satellite networks in development: TeraWave for communications and Project Sunrise for computing in orbit.
How does Blue Origin make money?
It sells launches to customers such as Amazon Leo, AST SpaceMobile and NASA, sells BE-4 engines to United Launch Alliance, and earns milestone payments on NASA lunar contracts. The U.S. Space Force has reserved up to seven national security missions worth about $2.4 billion once New Glenn is certified. Blue Origin does not publish results; the Wall Street Journal put 2025 revenue at about $800 million and 2026 at about $1.4 billion.
How much is Blue Origin worth?
About $140 billion. In 2026 Blue Origin raised money from outside investors for the first time, a reported $10 billion with Coatue Management contributing about $4 billion and Bezos $2 billion. Bezos had invested about $30 billion before that, much of it from selling Amazon stock. The valuation is roughly 100 times expected 2026 revenue, so investors are paying for future launch volume and satellite services.
Why New Glenn is grounded
On May 28, 2026, a New Glenn exploded during a static fire at Launch Complex 36, its only pad, ahead of a 48-satellite Amazon Leo launch. In August Blue Origin traced the failure to the main oxygen valve on one BE-4 engine and began making a modified valve. CEO Dave Limp has said New Glenn will fly again before the end of 2026, while NASA has asked to move the first Blue Moon landers to another rocket if needed.
Blue Origin vs SpaceX
SpaceX launches far more often and went public in June 2026. Blue Origin's case rests on a wider fairing, its own engines, deep funding and the U.S. government's interest in a second provider: NASA picked both Starship and Blue Moon as crewed lunar landers, and the Space Force split its latest launch contracts among SpaceX, ULA and Blue Origin.
