Blue Origin and Orbital Reef , a part of history in the northwest
Headquarters for many of the world ’ s most important and well-known businesses , from Microsoft to Starbucks , Costco , and Boeing , reside in the Northwest . Blue Origin is headquartered in Kent , Washington . Sherwood said , “ The region is a leader in general , commercial , and defense aviation and space manufacturing .”
They also have manufacturing operations in Huntsville , Alabama , and Cape Canaveral , Florida , engine test and suborbital launch facilities in West Texas , and engineering centers in Los Angeles , Denver , Phoenix , and North Virginia , said a company spokesperson .
While the project originated in Washington , it is now a national operation , which may also provide an opportunity to suppliers and the workforce in the Northwest . Sherwood said , “ We have world-class suppliers in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide . Our supply base has demonstrated exceptional technical capability , quality , cost competitiveness , and reliability .”
Sherwood noted that , “ Boeing is on our Orbital Reef team with the Starliner vehicle for crew transportation , station operations and maintenance , and expertise for the research module .” He said there is an enormous amount of work to do , so people need to support the space sector .
Blue Origin employs approximately 5,400 people . According to NASA , the ISS will deorbit by 2031 . Orbital Reef is “ scaling up fast to ensure continued U . S . presence in LEO ,” Sherwood said . ( Source : NASA source : International Space Station Transition Report - January 2022 ( nasa . gov )
He said they are hiring various positions from new grads to senior level — at all Blue Origin locations : systems engineers , hardware developers , software engineers , operations experts , and user experience experts .
In Washington state , Blue Origin designed and built the New Shepard launch vehicle . In addition , the company manufactures rocket engines and other advanced development program flight systems .
However , none of the development would be possible without the variety of partnerships formed by Orbital Reef .
One such partnership is between Sierra Space and Blue Origin on Orbital Reef . Sierra Space is a like-minded company with a similar independent corporate funding model . Sherwood said they had well-aligned visions for developing orbital opportunities for commercial business . He also noted that it comes down to decades of work normalizing space travel in LEO .
Other Orbital Reef team members include Redwire , Genesis Engineering , Amazon Distribution & Fulfillment Services , Amazon Web Services , and Arizona State University ( ASU ). Fourteen universities will be involved in the development .
14 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS