{"id":18688,"date":"2017-12-20T20:35:13","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T12:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/every-day-is-moving-day-for-blue-origins-new-rocket-facilities-in-florida\/"},"modified":"2017-12-20T20:35:13","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T12:35:13","slug":"every-day-is-moving-day-for-blue-origins-new-rocket-facilities-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/every-day-is-moving-day-for-blue-origins-new-rocket-facilities-in-florida\/","title":{"rendered":"Every day is moving day for Blue Origin\u2019s new rocket facilities in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_385755\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-385755\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-385755\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/171220-blueorigin-630x360.jpg\" alt=\"Propellant tanks\" width=\"630\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/171220-blueorigin-630x360.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/171220-blueorigin-768x439.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/171220-blueorigin-1260x720.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/171220-blueorigin.jpg 1515w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-385755\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tanks for liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas, the propellants to be used by Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket, are lined up at Launch Complex 36 in Florida. (Blue Origin Photo via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Blue Origin hasn\u2019t put up the \u201cGrand Opening\u201d sign yet, but there\u2019s clearly business going on at the Florida rocket facilities built by Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos\u2019 space venture.<\/p>\n<p>The latest sign came today, when Blue Origin tweeted out a picture of propellant tanks being delivered to Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which is destined to host Blue Origin\u2019s orbital-class New Glenn rocket.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarting to look more and more like a launch pad!\u201d the tweet read.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin employees are also moving into a 750,000-square-foot New Glenn production facility that\u2019s being built about 10 miles away. Last week\u2019s&nbsp;tweeted picture of cubicle tchotchkes (plus a Blue Origin hardhat) was captioned as \u201cthe moment you know you\u2019ve officially moved into the rocket factory.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=941404308238725120&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2017%2Fevery-day-moving-day-blue-origins-new-rocket-factory-florida%2F&amp;sessionId=b2ecad934b94645a7750100e6aaedb25a751a616&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"941404308238725120\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782801679547385137=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The moment you know you\u2019ve officially moved into the rocket factory. #NewGlenn pic.twitter.com\/nHRn0m9dSd<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Blue Origin (@blueorigin) December 14, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin\u2019s business development manager, Erika Wagner, reportedly joked at this week\u2019s Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in Colorado that the Florida factory was looking \u201ca bit like a rocket IKEA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Operations at the Florida factory are expected to begin in earnest next year, leading up to the first flight of the New Glenn rocket in 2020. There\u2019ll be a 283-foot-high two-stage variant, and a 326-foot-high three-stage version. The first stage will have seven BE-4 rocket engines fueled with liquefied natural gas, and the upper stages would use BE-4U and BE-3U engines.<\/p>\n<p>The two-stage rocket is designed to put up to 99,000 pounds of payload into low Earth orbit, with the first-stage booster capable of flying itself back to a landing platform for recovery and reuse. Those specs make the two-stager more powerful than SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9, but less powerful than the Falcon Heavy.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s less detail available about the three-stage version, but Bezos has said New Glenn could be used to send payloads to the moon.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Blue Origin is working on a suborbital spaceship called New Shepard, manufactured in Kent, Wash. Blue Origin\u2019s latest version of New Shepard successfully went through its first uncrewed flight test last week&nbsp;in West Texas, and if all goes according to plan, people could start getting on board the next version sometime next year.<\/p>\n<p>A key factor for Blue Origin\u2019s growth is the development of the BE-4 rocket engine, which is slated to be used on United Launch Alliance\u2019s next-generation Vulcan rocket as well as New Glenn. The engine is currently undergoing test firings, and if ULA gives the thumbs-up, engine production would shift from Kent to a new factory in Huntsville, Ala.<\/p>\n<p>As Blue Origin\u2019s footprint grows, so does its workforce: Wagner was quoted as saying that the number of employees has grown from 170 in 2012, when she started with the company, to 1,400 today.<\/p>\n<p><em>Hat tip to Space News\u2019 Jeff Foust.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tanks for liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas, the propellants to be used by Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket, are lined up at Launch Complex 36 in Florida. (Blue Origin Photo via Twitter) Blue Origin hasn\u2019t put up the \u201cGrand Opening\u201d sign yet, but there\u2019s clearly business going on at the Florida rocket facilities built [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[509,510],"class_list":["post-18688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-new-glenn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18688\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}