Northwest Aerospace News PNAA 2021 ADVANCE | Page 91

AEROSPACE COMPANY OF THE YEAR

BLUE ORIGIN

Blue Origin was founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos with the vision of enabling a future where millions of people are living and working in space to benefit Earth . Its mission is to lower the cost of access to space . To preserve Earth , Blue Origin
Bob Smith , CEO believes that humanity will need to expand , explore , find new energy and material resources , and move heavy industries that stress Earth , into space .
Headquartered in Kent , Washington , Blue Origin is working to fulfill its mission by developing partially and fully reusable launch vehicles that are safe , low cost , reliable , and serve the needs of all civil , commercial and defense customers . With more than 3,500 employees and facilities in Florida , Texas , Alabama , California , Washington State , and Washington D . C ., it aims to dramatically improve access to space for people and payloads .
Of its many notable accomplishments , Blue Origin built the largest liquid rocket engine since Apollo that is not only using a new fuel but is also reusable and will power two of the newest rockets fielded in this decade . It won the largest Base Period award to go back to the Moon and is one of only two companies in history to land boosters . Blue Origin has scaled up the size , maturity , and complexity of its business . This year alone , Blue Origin has added more than 900 new employees and has continued to support hundreds of suppliers ( many in the Pacific Northwest ), a testament to its growth despite the pandemic and rocky aerospace economy .
Blue Origin ’ s efforts to fly astronauts to space on New Shepard ( its fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle ), produce reusable liquid rocket engines , create a highly reusable orbital launch vehicle with New Glenn , and return Americans to the surface of the Moon will add new chapters to the history of spaceflight and move it closer to fulfilling its founding vision .
PNAA Board Vice Chair , Jim Lee praises Blue Origin as a front-runner in space exploration . “ This company embodies progress and mobility creating safe launch vehicles through true reusable operations , paving a reliable access to space . Blue Origin recently celebrated their seventh consecutive flight to space and back using a fully reusable rocket , the New Shepard , demonstrating their payload program and moon landing technology . We look forward to learning more about their development programs as they scale their capabilities to serve the orbital market and the aerospace industry . Congratulations to the Blue Origin team on their PNAA Company of the Year award .”
Blue Origin is currently guided by CEO Bob Smith who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from Texas A & M , a Master of Science degree in engineering / applied mathematics from Brown University , a doctorate from the University of Texas in aerospace engineering and a business degree from MIT ’ s Sloan School of Management . Mr . Smith explains his interest in space from an early age : “ My father was a pilot during the Korean War , and I think that love of flying , amplified by Apollo , was a large contributor to my interest and passion for this field . So , it was never a choice for me – I have always wanted to be in the space industry .”
Company of the Year is awarded to an aerospace company located in the Pacific Northwest that has exhibited exceptional organizational and managerial and management characteristics while continually maintaining a strong competitive posture , thus raising the industry standard for the Pacific Northwest .
PNAA ADVANCE / 2021
FEBRUARY | MARCH 2021 ISSUE NO . 19 91