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Bezos Beats Musk to Orbit! · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:01
  Hey everybody, welcome back to the Elon Musk Podcast.
• 0:05
  This is a show where we discuss the critical crossroads that
• 0:08
  shape SpaceX, Tesla X, The Boring Company and Neurolink.
• 0:13
  I'm your host Will Walden. Blue Origins New Glen rocket
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  successfully reached orbit on its maiden flight Thursday,
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  marking a critical achievement for Jeff Bezos's space company
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  and intensifying its rivalry with Elon Musk's SpaceX.
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  The 98 meter tall rocket launched AT2O2 local time,
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  That's seven O 2 GMT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in
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  Florida, carrying a prototype satellite thousands of miles
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  above Earth. And while the Rockets made
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  objective to achieve orbit was accomplished, the mission also
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  faced setbacks, including the failure to recover its reusable
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  booster, which was lost during an attempted landing in the
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  Atlantic Ocean. Now, the launch firmly positions
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  Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin as a growing competitor to Musk's
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  SpaceX, with the two billionaires vying to dominate
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  the commercial space industry. A Blue Origin CEO, Dave Limp
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  praised the milestone, stating we'll learn a lot from today and
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  try again at our next launch this spring.
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  Musk also acknowledged the achievement, writing on X.
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  Congratulations on reaching orbit on the first attempt, Jeff
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  Bezos. Now, despite the camaraderie,
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  the competitive stakes could not be any higher as both companies
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  aim to lead the industry in satellite networks, human
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  spaceflight and also lunar exploration.
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  New Glenn, which was named after John Glenn, the first American
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  astronaut to orbit the Earth, is Blue Origin's most powerful
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  rocket to date. It was designed to carry heavy
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  payloads into orbit, making it more capable than Spacex's
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  workhorse rocket. The Falcon 9 and Base Services
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  intends to use New Glen to support his Project Kuiper
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  initiative, which aims to deploy thousands of low worth orbit
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  satellites to provide global broadband services.
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  Now, this effort puts Blue Origin in direct competition
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  with Spacex's Starlink, which already has a large
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  constellation of satellites providing Internet access to
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  millions worldwide. And while the orbital success of
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  the New Glen is a milestone, the mission highlighted some
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  technical challenges for Blue Origin.
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  The rocket's first stage booster engineered for reuse, failed to
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  land on an ocean platform as planned.
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  Roughly 20 minutes into the flight, the company confirmed
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  the booster had been lost. The ability to reuse boosters is
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  a cornerstone of Spacex's business model, and a failure
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  underscores Blue Origins ongoing struggle to match Spacex's
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  efficiency in this area now. The mission also endured delays
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  before liftoff. Initially scheduled for a pre
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  dawn launch on Monday, the flight was postponed due to ice
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  accumulation in key plumbing systems.
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  Engineers resolved the issue in time for Thursday's successful
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  launch, which took place from a historic launchpad that
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  previously sent NASA's Mariner and Pioneer missions into space.
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  The payload for this flight included an experimental
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  satellite platform that remained attached to the rocket's second
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  stage while in orbit. After six hours of operation,
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  though, the second stage will be maneuvered into a higher orbit
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  to comply with NASA's space debris guidelines.
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  Now, Blue Origin was founded about 25 years ago.
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  They've long envisioned a future where millions of people live
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  and work in space. Until now, its achievements have
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  largely centered on its smaller, reusable New Shepherd rocket,
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  which conducts suborbital flights carrying passengers and
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  scientific payloads to the edge of space.
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  Notably, Jeff Bezos himself participated in one of these
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  flights in 2021. However, Blue Origin has
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  struggled to keep pace with SpaceX, which launched 134
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  missions in 2023 and continues to develop its next generation
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  Starship rocket for deep space exploration.
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  Now, the Starship, designed to carry massive payloads and
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  cruise to the moon in Mars, remains a looming presence in
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  the industry. The company plans to conduct its
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  7th test flight of Starship later today on the 16th of
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  January. Now Starship's capability
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  surpasses that of New Glen, but the success of Blue Origins New
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  rocket is a signal that competition between the two
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  companies is intensifying. Industry observers predict that
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  this rivalry could drive innovation while reducing the
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  cost of accessing space. Now what you're going to see are
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  these two companies challenge each other to make even greater
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  strides. The growing rivalry between Blue
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  Origin and SpaceX is already reshaping the commercial space
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  industry, where private companies are taking over roles
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  historically dominated by government agencies like NASA.
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  Now they also NASA also once relied exclusively on government
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  built rockets. It's increasingly shifted
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  towards partnerships with private firms like SpaceX and
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  Blue Origin, and SpaceX has secured billions of dollars in
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  contracts to deliver supplies, satellites, and even astronauts
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  into orbit. And while Blue Origin is still
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  working to establish itself as a reliable provider of space
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  services with New Glen's successful debut, Bezos's
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  company has positioned itself as a stronger competitor for future
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  NASA contracts and other government projects.
• 5:27
  Now I've noticed that about 52% of you that listen to this
• 5:30
  podcast aren't subscribed to it. I checked out the analytics and
• 5:34
  if you could do me a favor, if you'd like, SpaceX, NASA,
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  Spaceflight, also Tesla, Boring Company, Neuralink X, all of
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  Elon Musk's companies. Hit the follow or subscribe
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  button on whatever podcast platform you're listening on
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  right now. Greatly appreciate it.
• 5:52
  Takes you about a second and you'll get more news about Elon
• 5:55
  in your feed now. Despite the orbital success
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  though of Blue Origin, it's an uphill battle in catching up
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  with Spacex's well established lead.
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  Spacex's Falcon 9 rockets are routinely reused for multiple
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  missions, significantly lowering costs and increasing the
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  frequency of launches. Additionally, Spacex's startling
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  satellite network is already operational, whereas Blue
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  Origins Project Kuiper is still in its early stages with only a
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  fraction of its planned satellite constellation launch.
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  A competition is further fueled by the personal dynamics between
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  Bezos and Musk. Both billionaires have publicly
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  sparred over their visions for space exploration, with Musk
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  often taking jabs at Bezos for Blue Origin slower progress.
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  However, Bezos has remained steadfast in his long term
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  vision, emphasizing that building a sustainable presence
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  in space will require time, investment, and patience.
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  Now, the failure to recover New Glen's reusable booster is a
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  reminder of the challenges that lie ahead of Blue Origin.
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  They'll eventually do it, but developing a reliable and cost
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  effective system for reusability will be essential if the company
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  hopes to compete with SpaceX on both performance and on price.
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  Nevertheless, the successful orbital launch of New Glen marks
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  a major step forward for Blue Origin, and it proves that they
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  have the capability to develop and deploy heavy lift rockets.
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  Now this is going to heat up. Blue Origin and SpaceX are going
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  to go after one another. The benefits for the broader
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  space industry and for us are becoming increasingly apparent.
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  Greater competition is likely to result in technological
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  advancements, reduced costs, and expanded access to space for
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  governments, businesses, researchers, and eventually
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  people like you and me. But for now, Bezos and Musk
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  remain locked in a race that could redefine humanity's
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  relationship with space for generations to come.
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  We might actually get to Mars because of two billionaires that
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  are battling between 2 mega rockets.
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  That's pretty wild to think about.
• 8:10
  Hey, thank you so much for listening today.
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  I really do appreciate your support.
• 8:13
  If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow
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  button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening
• 8:18
  on right now, I greatly appreciate it.
• 8:21
  It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never
• 8:24
  miss an episode. And each episode is about 10
• 8:27
  minutes or less to get you caught up quickly.
• 8:30
  And please, if you want to support the show even more, go
• 8:32
  to patreon.com/stagezero and please take care of yourselves
• 8:38
  and each other and I'll see you tomorrow.